POWDER, SHOT AND WADS. 9 



cannot be too fine for your routine collecting. Use "mustard- 

 seed," or " dust-shot," as it is variously called ; it is smaller 

 than any of the sizes usually numbered. As the very finest 

 can only be procured in cities, proAide yourself liberallj^ on 

 leaving any centre of civilization for even a country' village, 

 to say nothing of remote regions. A small bird that would 

 have been torn to pieces by a few large pellets, may be riddled 

 with mustard-seed and yet be preservable ; moreover, there is, 

 as a rule, little or no bleeding from these minute holes, which 

 close up by the elasticity of the tissues involved. It is aston- 

 ishing what large birds may be brought down with the tinj^ 

 pellets. I have killed hawks with such shot, knocked over a 

 wood ibis at forty yards and once shot a wolf dead with No. 

 10, though I am bound to say the animal was within a few feet 

 of me. After dust-shot, and the nearest number or two, No. 

 8 or 7 will be found most useful. Waterfowl, thick-skinned 

 sea birds like loons, cormorants and pelicans, and a few of the 

 largest land birds, require heavier shot. I have had no ex- 

 perience with the substitution of fine gravel or sand, much less 

 water, as a projectile ; besides shot I never fired anything at a 

 bird except m3- rann-od, on one or two occasions, when I never 

 afterwards saw either the bird or the stick. The comparatively 

 trivial matter of caps will repay attention. Breech-loaders 

 not discharged with a pin take a particular style of short cap 

 called a "primer;" for other guns the best water-proof lined 

 caps will prevent annoyance and disappointment in wet weather, 

 and may save 3'ou an eye, for they only split when exploded ; 

 whereas, the flimsy cheap ones — that "GD" trash, for in- 

 stance, sold in the corner grocery at ten cents a hundred 

 — us\ially fly to pieces. Moreover, the top of such a cap is 

 sometimes driven into the nipple. Using Ely's caps, I shot a 

 whole season in the fog and rain of Labrador, Avithout a single 

 miss-fire, though my gun was sometimes dripping. Cut felt 

 wads are the only suitable article. Ely's " chemically prepared " 

 wadding is the best. It is well, when i\siug plain wads, occa- 

 sionally to drive a greased one through the barrel. Since you 

 may sometimes run out of wads through an unexpected contin- 



