94 SHOT. 



any other two numbers, from 1 upwards, All sizes 

 above 3, or 2 at largest, I shall bring under the head 

 of duck-guns, with which only they will lie compact 

 in the caliber ; though, if I went out solely for the 

 purpose of shooting wildfowl with a small gun, then 

 I should of course prefer No. 3 to No. 7. 



No. 9 is rather too small, and the use of dust-shot 

 absurd ', except for small birds ; as, at any distance, 

 snipes will^y away with it, if shot in the body ; and, 

 to break a bone with it, the bird must be very close : 

 add to which, its disadvantage in windy weather, and 

 the impossibility of manufacturing it so well as the 

 regular numbered shot. 



The reason why small shot answers best is, that it 

 lies more compact in the barrel ; and, consequently, 

 receives more effectually the force of the powder than 

 large shot, which can only have this advantage in a 

 proportionably large caliber. Thus it is, that a grain 

 of small shot, from a small gun, will kill far better, 

 in proportion, than one of large ; and, with it, you 

 have not only the chances multiplied in favour of 

 taking a vital part, but the same advantage of pene- 

 trating feathers, that a pin would have (with a mo- 

 derate pressure on it) over a 'nail ; and it shoots so 

 regular a surface, that a bird, at forty yards, could 

 very seldom * get away ; whereas the large shot, from 



* I say, very seldom, instead of never, by reason, that the best 

 gun in England, tried (although regularly cleaned) two hundred 

 times at sheets of paper, the size of birds, may once, or more, not 

 put a single grain in, although properly haded and well directed. 



