FOREST SPORTS. 225 



Immense speed can be made on the snow-shoe by the prac- 

 tised runner ; I have heard the rate of a famous Indian, when 

 at his full lope on favorable ground, accounted as equal to seven 

 or eight miles the hour, and this pace maintainable — to coin a 

 word for the nonce ! — for half a day, or better. 



The best weapon for this sport is the rifle ; and T cannot too 

 strongly urge upon all amateur sportsmen the immense supe- 

 riority, as a sporting implement, for quick shooting at game in 

 motion, and especially in thick covert, of the comparatively 

 short large-bored piece, carrying a ball, certainly not smaller 

 than 32, but 16 is far better, to the pound, stocked after the man- 

 ner of an ordinary fowling-piece, and fired direct from the 

 shoulder, to the long, heavy, ill-balanced, small-bored rifles, with 

 a peaked heel-plate, which are ordinarily used in America. 



However excellent these may be for very close practice, at 

 very small mai'ks, such as Squirrels, or the like, or for target 

 practice from a rest, or with deliberate aim, they are utterly in- 

 effective for rapid snap-shooting at animals in quick motion ; 

 while for long shots, across wind especially, the smallness and 

 lightness of their metal causes the balls to be blown many inches, 

 sometimes even feet, to leeward. 



Another objection is, that their pea-bullets have neither the 

 weight nor the force sufficient to make the bones crack, though 

 they may make the fur fly ; and that the small orifice made by 

 these little missiles, will often, especially in fat animals, close so 

 completely over them, as to prevent the flow of blood, which 

 from an ounce-ball wound will speedily exhaust the quarry, and 

 bring him to the ground. 



To shoot Deer, or large animals, with balls of 80, or even 120 

 to the pound, is an act of wanton barbarity, as the stricken 

 quarry will run for leagues with his death- wound from so paltry 

 a missile, and the hunter shall lose his labor. 



The best sporting implement of this kind in the world, is un- 

 doubtedly Purdey's double-barrelled rifle ; and, although the 

 use of these was at first ridiculed by the hunters and trappers 

 of the West, its superior execution and ul ility is now fully ad- 

 15 



