The story about 7 birds dead in the air has been reported numerous times. Apparently, Lord Ripon was a good shot, but also a good self-promoter. An article in one of the British magazines (either "The Field" or "Shooting Gazette") disproved the Lord's claim by calculating the most optomistic time it would take for a high pheasant to fall to ground (even into a valley) and showing that no one would be able to shoot the next six birds and switch guns three times in that time.