138 THE WILD-FOWLER, 



a rude and unsightly construction, made of steel gig-spring-s, 

 and bearing- some resemblance in shape to a grasshopper — whence 

 its name — but which, since Colonel Hawker's neat and perfect 

 invention of the spiral recoil-spring, has been cast aside as an ob- 

 ject of ridicule. I well remember the days when the "grass- 

 hopper" was the only method in use for checking the recoil of 

 the stanchion-gun : it was always in the way of ropes, besides 

 bruising and cutting the hands and fingers of those who chanced 

 to handle it. 



Method of using the Stanchion-gun on Land. 



A stanchion-gun, of any size, may be used on land with the same 

 facility that it is used on the water, but with far less success ; 

 for it is seldom that an effective shot can be made with the 

 stanchion-gun from the open shore, because of the formidable 

 appearance of the gun-carriage, which is necessary for enabling* 

 the sportsman to fire so large a piece of artillery with personal 

 safety. 



Colonel Hawker invented a stanchion-gun-carriage, for the pur- 

 pose of approaching wild-fowl in the open country, instead of the old- 

 fashioned method by means of the stalking-horse ; and recommends 

 the whole being covered with boughs of trees, or masked in front 

 with sheep-skins, and adds : " The birds will then let you approach 

 them as well as if you were some harmless quadruped." With de- 

 ference to such an authority, I boldly affirm that the masked 

 carriage is thoroughly impracticable, and that wild-fowl cannot be so 

 approached on open country. The very machine itself, when motion- 

 less ; as shown by the copious illustrations of it in the work alluded 

 to, whether masked or otherwise, would frighten any wild -fowl; to say 

 nothing of such a scare-crow machine being put in motion towards 

 such vigilant birds as wild-geese, ducks, widg'eon, and others which 

 alight in open countries. 



The only practicable use to which the machine can be applied is, 

 for firing the stanchion-gun from a plantation or place of conceal- 

 ment on the banks of a lake or pond ; and for that purpose it is very 

 well adapted, and may be found useful in a park or on the margin of 

 extensive ponds frequented by wild-fowl, where a commanding scope 

 or range of water can be obtained ; but this is an experiment much to 



