192 RAIL-SHOOTING. 
The first necessity of equipment for this sport is 
a breech-loading gun, which not only enables the 
sportsman to kill double the number of birds, but 
will occasionally give him the benefit, by a rapid 
change in the charge, of a favorable presentation of 
a chance flock of ducks. But as many persons, out 
of a want of knowledge or of funds, still cling to 
the old muzzle-loader, it may be well briefly to men- 
tion the articles that tend to modify its inferiority. 
Of course, as the shooting occupies but a few 
hours, and in good days the birds are perpetually on 
the wing, it is essential to load rapidly ; and to do 
this the sportsman places on a thwart before him a 
tin box divided into compartments for powder, shot, 
caps, and wads, or, as I prefer, two boxes, one filled 
with powder and the other with the other materials. 
For many reasons there should be a lid over the 
powder—to prevent its being ignited by a chance 
spark or blown away by a strong wind—and the 
ordinary flask is frequently used in spite of the con- 
sequent delay. A double scoop, made of tin or 
brass, and regulated to the precise load, is placed 
among the powder and the shot, and a solid loading- 
stick lies near at hand. 
By these means the rapidity of loading is more 
than doubled ; the powder is dropped into both bar- 
rels at once by means of the double scoop, wads are 
driven home by a single blow of the rod, both bar- 
rels are charged with shot at once in the same man- 
ner, the caps are within easy reach, and the gun is 
loaded in less than half the time consumed in the 
