SEC. I IMPLEMENTS FOR COLLECTING, AND THEIR USE 5 



deal with a hawk or other large bird with reasonable prospects of 

 success ; if in only one barrel, the other being more heavily charged, 

 you are crippled to the extent of exactly one-half of your resources 

 for ordinary shooting. Whereas, with the breech-loader you will 

 habitually use mustard-seed in both barrels, and yet can slip in a 

 different shell in time to seize most op})ortunities requiring large 

 shot. This consideration alone should decide the case. Moreover, 

 the time spent in the field in loading an ordinary gun is no small 

 item ; while cartridges may be charged in your leisure at home. 

 This should become the natural occupation of your spare moments. 

 No time is really gained ; you simply change to advantage the time 

 consumed. Metal shells, charged with loose ammunition, and 

 susceptible of being reloaded many times, may be used instead of 

 any special fixed ammunition which, once exhausted in a distant 

 place (and circumstances may upset the best calculations on that 

 score), leaves the gun useless. On charging the shells, mark the 

 number of the shot used on the outside wad ; or better, use 

 coloured wads — say plain white for dust shot, and red, blue, and 

 green for certain other sizes. If going far away, take as many 

 shells as you think can possibly be wanted — and a few more. 



Experience, however, will soon teach you to prefer paper 

 cartridges for breech-loaders. They may of course be loaded 

 according to circumstances, with the same facility as metal shells, and 

 even reloaded if desired. It is a good deal of trouble to take care 

 of metal shells, to prevent loss, keep them clean, and avoid bending 

 or indenting ; while there is often a practical difficulty in recapping 

 — at least with the common styles that take a special primer. 

 Those fitted with a screw top holding a nijiple for ordinary caps are 

 expensive. Paper cartridges come already capped, so that this 

 bother is avoided, and it is not ordinarily worth while to reload 

 them. They are made of different colours, distinguishing various 

 sizes of shot used without employing the coloured wads otherwise 

 required. They may be taken into the field empty and loaded on 

 occasion to suit ; but it is better to pay a trifle extra to have them 

 loaded at the shop. In such case, about four-fifths of the stock 

 should contain mustard-seed, nearly all the rest about No. 7, a very 

 few being reserved for about No. 4. Cost of ammunition is 

 hardly appreciably increased ; its weight is put in the most 

 conveniently portable shape ; the whole apparatus for carrying it 

 loose and for loading the shells is dispensed with ; much time is 

 saved, the entire drudgery (excepting gun- cleaning) of collecting 

 being avoided. I was prepared in this way during the summer of 

 1873 for the heaviest work I ever succeeded in accomplishing dur- 

 ing the same length of time. In June, when birds were plentiful, 

 I easily averaged fifteen skins a day, and occasionally made twice 



