FOWL SHOOTING. 



131 



of each barrel of a gun, either barrel of which will only weigh, 

 at the outside, 10 pounds; and I presume, judging from his 

 remark concerning its handiness, he would make it much lighter. 

 The same ratio would give a charge exceeding 5 ounces to the 

 13 pound gun, which Colonel Hawker holds unfit to carry 

 above 3. 



A gun so built and so loaded, would be positively dangerous ; 

 and one properly built to carry 4 ounces of shot from each bar- 

 rel, without recoiling, should weigh from 32 to 40 pounds, a 

 weight which cannot be discharged without a rest. 



Observe, also, that an overloaded gun not only kicks, but by 

 recoiling loses force, scatters, and overshoots. 



It is for these reasons that I have recommended the use of 

 two 7 guage, 42 inch, 13 pound single guns, as infinitely supe- 

 rior to any double gun that can be held out. They will carry 

 one-third more shot, and that two sizes larger, to almost double 

 the distance, besides being twice as handy. 



Hawker's scale of shot is No. 3 to 1 for guns of 10 or 12 

 guage, 2 ounces ; 1 to A for guns of 7 guage, 3 ounces ; A to B 

 for guns of 5 guage, 4 or 5 ounces. 



And you may rely upon it, that larger shot and larger charges 

 will produce no good effect, besides hurting the shoulder, and 

 perhaps bursting the gun. Remember that for very long shots 

 you should increase the quantity of powder and reduce that of 

 shot. To kill wild-fowl, cross shots at long distances, going be- 

 fore the wind, you should either keep the gun moving in the 

 direction of the bird's flight, after the trigger is draicn, if you aim 

 directly at your bird ; or you must fire from 2 to 5 feet in front 

 of the fowl, according to its distance and rate of locomotion. 



I will only add here, that although all the varieties of Duck 

 and Goose I have enumerated and described above, are killed 

 in greater or less abundance on Long Island waters, by far the 

 most plentiful, and with exception of the third named, the most 

 esteemed, are the Canada G-oose, the Brent Goose, the Scaup 

 or Broadbill — ^which is a very indifferent bird — and the Red- 

 head, which is by far the best of all, though far inferior to the 



