Some popular writer has said that, like the poet, the first-class shot with a gun, or the “dead shot,” as he is often called, must be born such—he cannot be made. Good shooting is a fine art, and in none of the fine arts can perfection be acquired where there does not exist a natural talent, or natural capacity, if the term be better. Any man with fair calculation and a reasonably good mechanical eye may, by practice, become a very passable shot, but without this peculiar natural requirement, which no one can clearly explain, it will be impossible for him to ever excel as an expert marksman. It is not often that a real born shot is met with—they are about as scarce as true poets and true painters. When one does meet with him one soon knows him, if there is any shooting going on. Perhaps he is at his first shooting match. He does not know himself as a “shootist,” possibly. Curiosity alone, it may be, prompts him to try a shot, so he takes the gun, and wholly without study or previous experience, blazes away, and, to the astonishment of all present, shoots almost to perfection. It is in him as a gift. Some peculiar balance in his organization is the cause of it, and it is folly to be envious even in the least degree. Nor is it worth while to despair because such a peculiar balance of organization did not happen to fall to “our” lot. If there be a wish to succeed, a little patient study, industry and practice may soon bring the “shootist” up to the average at least, and that will leave no reasonable cause for complaint. _How to Shoot._—This part of the subject need not be brought down to the simple operation of merely discharging a gun, for it is supposed that every person with common sense, and old enough to handle a gun would know how to discharge it when loaded. What is meant, then, by “how to shoot,” is how to shoot well, and to enable any one to do this, one of the most important requisites lies in taking aim on the object at which is expected to be shot. Most young gunners close one eye in this operation, which, according to the best authorities, is entirely wrong. A man will learn to take correct aim with a shot-gun much sooner by keeping both eyes naturally open than he will by holding one closed. Once got in the habit of shooting with a closed eye, it will be found a most difficult habit to break up—the “hiding eye” will “close up” just as the finger is being pressed upon the trigger. And with that “closing up” is very apt to come a deviation of the gun from the line of correct aim.