ANUAL OF NSTRUCTION. 



CHAPTER I. 



IMPLEMENTS FOR COLLECTING, AND THEIR USE. 



§1. The double-barrelled shot gun is your main reliance. 

 Under some circumstances you may trap or snare birds, catch 

 them with bird-lime, or use other devices ; but such cases 

 are exceptions to the rule that you will shoot birds, and for 

 this purpose jio weapon compares with the one just mentioned. 

 The soul of good advice respecting the selection of a gun, is, 

 get the best one you can afford to buy ; go the full length of your 

 purse in the matters of material and workmanship. To say 

 nothing of the prime requisite, safet}', or of the next most 

 desirable quality, efflcienc}'', the durability of a high-priced 

 gun makes it cheapest in the end. Style of finish is obviously 

 of little consequence, except as an index of other qualities ; 

 for inferior guns rarcl}^, if ever, display the exquisite ai^point- 

 ments that mark a first-rate arm. There is really so little 

 choice among good guns that nothing need be said on this 

 score ; you cannot miss it if you pay enough to any reputable 

 maker or reliable dealer. But collecting is a specialty, and 

 some guns are better adapted than others to j'our particular 

 purpose, which is the destruction, as a rule, of small birds, at 

 moderate range, with the least possible injury to their plumage. 

 Probably three-fourths or more of the birds of a miscellaneous 

 collection average under the size of a pigeon, and were shot 

 within thirtj^ yards. A heavy gun is therefore unnecessary, in 

 fact ineligible, the extra weight being useless. You will find 

 a gun of 7J to 8 pounds weight most suitable. For similar 



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