16 IMPLEMENTS FOR COLLECTING, AND THEIR USE. 



cartridges as well as to loading by the muzzle. When about 

 to recharge one barrel see that the hammer of the other stands 

 at half-cock. Do not drop the ramrod into the other barrel, 

 for a stray shot might impact between the swell of the head 

 and the gun and make it difficult to withdraw the rod. During 

 the whole operation keep the muzzle as far from your person 

 as you conveniently can. Never force home a wad with the flat 

 of your hand over the end of the rod, but hold the rod between 

 your fingers and thumb ; in case of premature explosion, it 

 will make just the difference of lacerated finger tips, or a 

 blown-up hand. Never look into a loaded gun barrel ; you 

 might as wisely put your head into a lion's mouth to see what 

 the animal had for dinner. After a miss-fire hold the gun up 

 a few moments and be slow to reload ; the fire sometimes 

 "hangs" for several seconds. Finall}^, let me strongly' impress 

 upon you the expediency of light loading in your routine col- 

 lecting. Three-fourths of your shots need not bring into 

 action the gun's full powers of execution. You will shoot 

 more birds under than over 30 yards ; not a few, 3'ou must 

 secure, if at all, at 10 or 15 3'ards ; and your object is always 

 to kill them with the least possible damage to the plumage. 

 I have, on particular occasions, loaded even down to ^oz. of shot 

 and l^dr. of powder. There is astonishing force compressed 

 in a few grains of powder ; an astonishing number of pellets 

 in the smallest load of mustard-seed. If j'ou can load so 

 nicely as to just drive the shot into a bird and not through 

 it and out again, do so, and save half the holes in the skin. 



§10. To SHOOT successful!}' is an art which may be acquired 

 by practice, and can be learned only in the school of experi- 

 ence. No general directions will make you a good shot, any 

 more than a proficient in music or painting. To tell you that 

 in order to hit a bird you must point the gun at it and press 

 the trigger, is like saying that to play on the fiddle you must 

 shove the boAV across the strings with one hand while you fin- 

 ger them with the other ; in either case the result is the same, 

 a noise — vox et proiterea nihil — but neither music nor game. 



