184 ON THE WING. 



exclusively, and I consider them much better than 

 those which are cut from pasteboard. 



Shot-Cartridges. 



I have for years been wishing that some experienced 

 person would invent a shot-cartridge that would over- 

 come many of the objections to, or difficulties encoun- 

 tered in, using loose shot. Eley's cartridges have, to 

 a certain extent, been a step in the right direction ; 

 but they fail to answer what is required, and are not gen- 

 erally used by our best sportsmen. They serve to show, 

 however, the fact that shot fired in a loose form from 

 the gun are propelled, as regards force and concentra- 

 tion, at a great loss of effect from what would be the 

 result could they be encased in a cartridge compact in 

 form, that would open at the proper distance. Shot 

 scatter widely when fired from the gun in the usual 

 manner, for the very obvious reason that each shot re- 

 ceives its propellent force at an angle to its line of di- 

 rection. The pellets of shot being round, and the force 

 of the discharge pressing one pellet against the other, 

 the shot in the lower layers are crowded as much as 

 possible into the interstices of those above them, and, 

 pushing the pellets of the upper layers out of their 

 position, cause them to take very divergent directions 

 when expelled from the muzzle of the gun. As the 

 shot lie in numerous layers in the barrel, the whole 

 force of the combustion of the powder is received by 

 the lower layer, which communicates its impetus to the 

 layer above, and this one to the next in turn, and so on. 



