Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-03-26

WONDERFUL SHOTS. Colonel Hawker, in
his Book of Instructions to Young Sportsmen,"
gives many instances of wonderful "bags;" and
a multitude OF instances have presented them
selves since his book was written. On one oc-
casion eight hooper swans, averaging nineteen
pounds each, were knocked down at one shot.
On another, thirty-fiye wild geese were killed by
one discharge of a single-barrelled punt gun.
But instances in point are more fairly those con-
nected with shooting game than shooting wild
fowl. Lieutenant Kirkes once brought down
six SnipeS with one shot out of a wisp of seven ;
and his son, Captain Kirkes, killed a grouse and
two hareS at once, the hareS sitting on q rising
ground, and the grouse flying towards it. A
gamekeeper named Alexander Strachan, in the
service OF the Earl of kintore, on one occasion
shot six snipes on the wing at one time In 1885,
on the Scottish moors, sportsman stalIed up
10 four blackcocks, caught them in a line as
they rose, and killed them ALL three fell at
once, and the fourth hundred yards distant
from them. Mr.. Muirhead once fired at two
partridgeS as they rose together from some long
wheat stubble, brought them down at one shot
Just as they got on the wing, and mOrtally
wounded three Others which had not risen. A
Wild shot at cOvey, as they turned ever low
part of a hedge, was rewarded by bringing
down nine birds at once. Doctor Sandwich,
who bore so honorable a part in the defense
of Kars by Colonel Sir Fenwick Will
liams during the Crimean war, was shoot
ing on branch of the Euphrates, near
Erzeroum, and bagged four spoonbls at one
shot. A man named Croft, in the year 1885,
while shooting on the river Wye, killed eighteen
grey plOvers at one shot, and on another occa-
sion sixteen ducks; but this was achieved by
means OF large swivel gun, fixed in boat and
loaded with quarter of pound of powder and
pound of shot-rather hard lines for the birds.
This, of course, belonged TO the wild fowl series.
And so did one recorded by Col Hawker, in
which twenty widgeOns, ducks, pintails and
ployers were brought down at once with COM
mon shoulder gun that carried only five ounces
of shot. He speaks also of iorty-three knots
and godwits being killed at one discharge by
three ounces of number four shot. keeper on
a Norfolk estate, early in the century, killed
seven bustards at one shot, but his manner of
dong it would hardly have been regarded by
the buStards as fair play. He looked ont for
their tracks on the snow, and put cabbages there
TO attract them; he planted q battery of three
large duck guns at n distance of hundred and
fifty yards, all pointing to that point, and he ar
ranged three strings from the three triggers TO
pit or hole a short distance behind. Taking his
seat in the hiding place at daybreak, he watched
his opportunity and brought down seven bus
tardS with simultaneous discharge of the
three guns. Lest there should be some numer-
ical mistake in the statement that five hundred
Starlings were once brought down with one dis
charge of a single-barreled punt gun, We will
pass it by.-.iH the Year Round.
LIONS AND LION TAMING.-The process of
lion tanning is deliberately described by a writer
in the London Daily News, part of whose story
we copy:
Whatever is the reason, the forest lions are
more intelligent and teachable than those bred
in confinement The lion tanner begins by TAX
ing the feeding of them into his own hands, and
SO gets them to know him. He commences feed
ing them from the outside of the den, and then
ventures inside OF one at time, always careful
~ keeping his face to the animal and avoiding
any violence, which is mistake whenever it can
be avoided, as it arouseS the dormant deyiliin
the beast. Getting TO handle the lion, the tanner
begins by StrOking him down the back, gradual
ly working up to the head, which, like the cat,
likes friction, begins TO rub his head against his
hand. When this familiarity is well establish
ed a board is handed in to the trainer which he
places across the den and teaches the lion to
jump over it, using 4 whip with a thong, but
not for the purpose of punishment
Gradually this board is heightened, the lion
Jumping over IL at every stage, aud then come
the hoops, ETC., held on top OF the board to
quicken the beasts understanding. To teach
the animal 10 Jump over the trainer, the latter
stOOpS alongside the board so that when the
lion clears one he clears the other, and half
dozen lessons are ordinarily about sufficient to
teach this. 10 get lion TO lie down and allow
the tanner to stand on him is more difficult 1t
is done by Ticking the beast over the back with
small "tckling" whip, and at the same time
pressing him down with one hand. BY raising
his head and taking hold of the nostrils with the
right hand, and the under lip and lower jaw
with the left, the lion, by this great pressure on
the nostril and lip, loses greatly the power of
his Jaws, so that man can pull them open and
put his head inside the beasts mouth, the feat
with which Van Amburg's name was so much
associated The only danger is lest the animal
should raise one of his forepaws and stick his
talOns in, and if he does the tanner must stand
fast for his life until he has shifted his paw.