Avifauna of New Caledonia. 545 



Before we conclude our " Notes " we hope the Editors of 

 'The Ibis''^ will allow ua a little space for a ride on our 

 favourite " hobby " — small-bore guns for collecting-natu- 

 ralists, especially ornithologists. Our favourite " Long Tom " 

 (bore "SGO) has already been noticed in these pages, and we 

 can now confidently recommend a double-barrelled gun of 

 larger bore, but still small (viz. 28 to the lb., old style), as 

 fitted to do all the work that a naturalist requires, and to 

 effect a vast saving of cost and weight and space in carriage of 

 ammunition. The collector must, however, be content with 

 a pin-fire gun for the following reasons : — He can load his 

 cartridges at least five times over, and though they may be 

 expanded by the firing, the use of a steel " swedge " before 

 loading contracts them very much, and with the aid of a hard 

 wooden punch (we use 8 inches of an old ash broom-handle !), 

 which can be carried in the pocket, they can always be forced 

 into the chamber of the gun : when fired they come out 

 easily. Not so with a central-fire gun, here any forcing is 

 damaging to the self-acting extractor, and the collector will 

 inevitably come to grief if he attempt it. 



Our little 28-bore weighs barely 5 lb., an ordinary fowling- 

 piece 6^ or 7 lb. Capt. Richards, R.N., the discoverer of 

 the lovely Charmosyna margai'ethcB, who collected much in the 

 Solomon Islands, had a gun constructed by Mr. Buckley, 

 one of the B. O. U., on the lines of ours, but 36 inches long 

 (one barrel full choke), with which he did wonders, and of 

 which he speaks in rapturous terms in the ' Field.' This 

 weighed 6 lb. 



The charges we use are, for small birds, f dram of powder, 

 \ oz. of small shot; for ordinary work 1 dram powder, f oz. 

 No. 7 shot; large charge 1^ dram powder, f oz. shot. For 

 large Pigeons, such as Phaenorhina goliath, weighing nearly 

 2 lb., and usually perching on very high trees, we use 1 ^ dram 

 powder and f oz. shot, Nos. 2 or 3. A small charge of pow- 

 der will send large shot with sufficient force to kill at long 

 distances, and will not scatter it so much as a large charge. 



Now calculate the saving of such a gun over a 14- or 12- 

 bore, which requires 2^ drams of powder and 1| oz. of shot. 



