UPLAND SHOOTING. 149 



diverging lines ; and consequently, the longer the range the 

 greater will be the interval between the grains. 



When birds are very wild, however, I strongly recommend 

 the use of Eley's wire cartridges, of the same No. 8 shot, which 

 I consider an invention in gunnery second only to percussion 

 I will state here briefly, for the benefit of those who have not 

 seen this missile, that the object of the contrivance is to propel 

 the charge, like a single ball, for some fifteen or more yards 

 fi-om the gun's muzzle. After this distance the case bursts, and 

 the shot diverges as in an ordinary charge. The gain, there- 

 fore, in distance, is precisely that to which the case is driven 

 unbroken. This differs in the three different kinds of cart- 

 ridges, blue, red, and green. The last of these must never be 

 used, except in fowl-shooting on the bays, as the range is pro- 

 digious, and on Upland dangerous. The blue, which is the 

 common kind, will increase the range of every gun, in close- 

 ness as in strength, from fifteen to twenty yards; and the red 

 from twenty to forty. The more heavily you charge with 

 powder, the inore closely will the cartridge carry ; the converse 

 of this proposition being true of loose shot. 



It is useless, however, for any person to use Eley's cartridge, 

 who is not cool enough to let a bird, which gets up under his 

 feet, go away twenty yards before firing at him ; and who 

 cannot shoot well enough to kill at forty, with an exceedingly 

 close canying gun. I have shot Snipe, when very wild, and 

 Quail in open ground, very late in the season, with blue cart- 

 ridges in my first, and red in my second baiTel, and that with 

 great success. I would, however, prefer the use of loose shot 

 and a blue cartridge. 



With regard to dress, it may be well here to say a word or 

 two ; for Snipe shooting is a difficult and dirty business, as far 

 as the walking is concerned, and requires an athletic fi-ame, 

 and a hardy constitution. For my own part, I have never ^ /// • 

 found any contrivance succeed in keeping the feet dry ; for a . y 

 single fall, or heavy splash, things of common occuixence, will '/^ 

 fill the tops of the longest and most secure water-proof boots; 



