MISCELLANEOUS HINTS. 363 



to what may be considered, by the mass, a very trite and silly 

 matter. However, no one, we imagine, even among this class of 

 fault-finders, independently of the mere looks of the thing, could 

 offer any particular objection to the protecting of his hands from 

 the rude contact of the piercing thorns and poisonous briers that 

 overrun our forests. 



Old, half-worn kid gloves, that fit snugly but do not bind the 

 hand, are the kind best adapted to this purpose. If the covering 

 on the dexter-finger should interfere with the delicacy of touch so 

 necessary for pulling the trigger, a portion of it should be removed. 

 It will also be necessary oftentimes to relieve the stricture of the 

 other fingers by making incisions lengthwise into the gloves. 



GRASPING THE BARREL. 



Guns are now made so light, and withal so beautifully balanced, 

 that there no longer remains any necessity, when presenting the 

 piece, of stretching the left hand up the barrel to the extreme 

 point of the stock ; but it should rather be grasped close to the 

 guard, so that the hand may be protected as much as possible, in 

 the event of its bursting, from some of those untoward accidents 

 which occasionally occur even in the hands of the most skilful. This 

 mode of holding the gun was adopted some few years back by 

 English sportsmen, on account of the frequency of such accidents, 

 owing entirely to the inferior manufacture of the barrels for small- 

 arms. The bursting of barrels in England, however, at the present 

 time, is a very unusual occurrence, owing to the improvements in 

 the arts, or perhaps more to the enactments of Parliament regu- 

 lating these things ; still, there are a great many worthless instru- 

 ments imported into this country from abroad, which are constantly 

 falling into the hands of every schoolboy, whose first lesson, there- 

 fore, in the use of the gun, should be the proper mode of present- 

 ing it, as there is no doubt but the hand is far more secure in this 

 position than in any other. We have heard of several guns burst- 

 ing during the last year or two, more particularly during the reed- 

 bird season, and several of the parties escaped without the slightest 



