514 WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 
In this article I shall only suggest such guns as are 
in my opinion suitable for wild fowl shooting, and ad- 
visable for the amateur to buy for that purpose. The 
days of the muzzle-loader having past, we cannot refer 
to them, except with sincere respect and loving regard 
for the many happy hours they have afforded us, and 
certainly, no man of a life experience with a shot gun 
can feel otherwise toward them. We must deposit 
them in the archives of memory, as instruments of de- 
parted worth. 
In the selection of a gun for wild-fowl shooting, we 
will bear in mind it is for inland birds, and our object 
should be, to select such an one as will answer for other 
shooting as well. The standard gauges used in the 
West are Nos. 10 and 12, with the preponderance largely 
in favor of No. 10; although the tendency at the present 
time is for smaller bores. But this change is more for 
the trap and upland birds than for wild-fowl. As the 
young hunter desires to be put on an equal footing with 
his companions, his decision is for a ten bore, the 
reason being that he can use larger and more effective 
Joads. He is merely a beginner and chance will aid 
him often, bringing down his bird with this gun when 
he would miss with a 16 or 20 bore, with a less charge 
of shot. To an expert, this does not necessarily apply ; 
for an experienced shot will kill with an ounce of shot, 
with almost the same regularity he does with 11-4 0z., 
because he gauges the speed, the height and distance, 
and places no reliance on scattered pellets, but hits the 
bird fairly with the centre of the charge, or scores a 
clean miss. 
Should the beginner decide on buying a gun, he is 
soon lost in the sea of uncertainty, not knowing what 
