CARTRIDGES. 235 



number is the only right kind, or indeed the only kind that 

 ought to be used ; others tell you quite a different story. For 

 my own part I consider that for all flying game the shooter 

 should rather be inclined to small sizes than large. No. 7, 

 for instance, kills partridges and even grouse more effectively 

 than a larger size. For wild-duck shooting, too, where you 

 shoot at single birds, No. 5, or even No. 6, appear to me to 

 kill oftener than the larger sizes more generally used. I am, 

 indeed, convinced, that small shot works its way better than 

 large through the down and feathers; the latter, notwith- 

 standing its superior force, gets rolled up in the down, while 

 the former cuts through it, and kills the bird. For flocks of 

 ducks larger shot may be used ; but even then too large sizes 

 do less execution than smaller ones. Swans and geese 

 require No. 1 or No. 2, as smaller shot seldom breaks a wing 

 of these birds ; but cartridges are the most effective, and then 

 you may use No. 3 at single geese with tolerable certainty. 

 Eley's cartridges, with large shot, such as B.B. or S.S.G-., in 

 them, sometimes kill at prodigious distances, but are very apt 

 to " ball " completely, and deceive the shooter. Indeed, all 

 the green cartridges have this defect ; owing to which the 

 bird is either missed entirely or blown to pieces. Several 

 good shots of my acquaintance can never succeed well with 

 wire-cartridges : they certainly require a different style of 

 shooting from loose shot, as they not only shoot slower, but 

 also are very much inclined to throw the shot low ; and in 

 order to use cartridges with success these two facts should be 

 constantly borne in mind. 



I find that the "yellow cartridge," which is made without 

 any wire, answers extremely well for grouse shooting, or 

 when common game is wild, as they keep the shot close 

 together, but without balling to any great extent. They are 

 very excellent, too, for rabbits, who generally require all the 

 shot which the sportsman can give them. Late in the 

 season, hares certainly ought not to be shot at with a size 

 under No. 4 : smaller shot will not break their bones 

 sufficiently to stop them at once, excepting when the animal 

 is crossing you. Different guns, however, carry effectively 

 different sized shot ; and therefore the same rules do not 

 apply to all. Some guns also shoot cartridges in a very 

 different manner from others ; and I should wish it to be 

 clearly understood that I do not lay down these suggestions 

 as infallible rules, but merely as the result of my own 



