16 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 17-No. 1 



i 





random, and generally wishes afterwards that 

 he had taken some other; and his cry then is, 

 " If I had only had some guide to follow which 

 would enable me to choose intelligently !" 



Mr. Gould, editor of one of the standard 

 sportsmen's periodicals of the day, a sports- 

 man himself, an earnest lover of his rifle, and 

 a naturalist of no mean grade, combining a 

 knowledge of what is 

 wanted with a twenty-five 

 years' exi^erience in the 

 use of this form of arm, 

 now tells us what he 

 knows about the subject, 

 and in such a manner as 

 to interest the reader, 

 while he is learning the 

 lesson. 



He commences with the 

 principles of a rifle, and 

 tells us of their mode of 

 manufacture and the vari- 

 ous parts of it, with com- 

 ments on the advisability 

 of the various patterns 

 and sections, the sights in 

 their infinite variety; and 

 T note that he advocates 

 the Lyman sight for a 

 hunting rifle, while show- 

 ing where in it is at fault, 

 — a difficult task in such 

 a subject, where personal 

 likes and dislikes are apt 

 to overweigh the desire to 

 judge impartially, for in 

 no point is a rifleman so 

 cranky as in his advocacy 

 of his favorite sight. 



Descriptions of various 

 makes of the arm follow, 

 classified by their adapt- 

 ability to either practical 

 use (hunting) or play 

 (target-work), and he ap- 

 pends to this, positions 

 and notes on aiming, hold- 

 ing and firing, which may 

 be studied to advantage 

 by even those experienced 

 in the use of the rifle. 



There is a demand for 

 a rifle for the ornith- 

 ological collector, and I gather that Mr. Gould 

 intends to speak a good word for the new 

 .25 caliber for light shooting. It has a flat 

 trajectory, which is a matter of vital impor- 



WINCHtSTER SINGLE 

 SHOT .25 CAL. RIFLE. 



tance, for the places which demand a rifle in 

 our work are those where it is exceedingly 

 difficult to judge of distance, and the high 

 trajectory of the .22 and ..32 caliber will cause 

 one to often overshoot, and the .32 caliber has 

 loo much smashing power. This .2."; caliber 

 is the result of years of study by Mr. Gould 

 and other prominent riflemen, and is a golden 

 mean between the two. This is furnished by 

 two different makers, but the advantage of 

 the Winchester arm over any other is too 

 obvious to admit of any argument on that 

 subject, and the cost is much less (I believe 

 about $15.00). This is not an advertisement 

 for the Winchester company but the honest 

 opinion of the writer, who has tried many of 

 the different forms, and got the opinion of 

 jnany others interested in Natural History. 



The section on target work is out of our 

 province, but is as complete as the rest of the 

 work, and worthy of attention, since practice 

 at a target is a good preliminary to work in 

 the field. 



While Mr. Gould has not, probably, written 

 without stirring up someone's old grievances, 

 and laid himself ojien to criticism in some of 

 his judgments, he has accomplished what no 

 man yet has, and that is, furni.«lied to the 

 public a work on the American rifle which 

 will he a manual to the rifleman and the text- 

 book of the learner for years to come. 



Nothing appeals more to the reader than 

 a good illustration of what the writer is talk- 

 ing about, and in this respect there is nothing 

 wanting, as there are over 200 illustrations of 

 various models of guns and their parts, posi- 

 tions, targets, tools and other accessories. 



[3/odeni American Rifles, by A. C Gould 

 (Ralph Greenwood) editor of Shooting and 

 Fishing, Boston. Bradlee Whidden. 1 vol. 

 royal 8vo., cloth, price $2.00.] 



A Late Date for the Pewee. 



While taking an outing in the vicinity of 

 Washington, D. C, (Four-mile Run, Va.,) on 

 Sunday, December 13th, I saw a solitary 

 Tevfee (Sayornis phxebe). I am informed that 

 is a late date for this species to be found in 

 this vicinity. 



Harry Gordon White. 

 Washington, D. C. 



