22 EQUIPMENT. 



shooting, if he uses two muzzle-loaders, .can, I 

 think, kill more game the season through than 

 with one breech-loader, as he will frequently have 

 opportunities to shoot both guns into the 

 same flock of ducks before they get out of 

 reach. 1 shall describe hereafter a method 

 for loading a muzzle-loader in which the opera- 

 tion is greatly shortened, and much valuable time 

 saved. 



Now, because of my saying a few words in 

 favor of the muzzle-loader, do not consider me an 

 old fogy, or old-fashioned either. I have not finished 

 yet. I intend to give the claims of the breech- 

 loader an equal showing, and, I think, can still find 

 advantages enough to overcome most of its de- 

 ficiencies. And first (I will be brief as possible), 

 they have the advantage of rapidity in loading, 

 whereby in wild-fowl shooting, besides the ad- 

 vantage of always being ready for new-comers, 

 cripples may be the more readily secured. Sec- 

 ond, ease and quickness of exchanging loads in 

 a gun, as in the case of the approach of geese 

 or swan when awaiting ducks. Third, facility of 

 cleaning. Fourth, less liability to miss fire. Fifth, 

 safety, no getting two loads into one barrel, no 

 need of having head or hands over the muzzle, 



