The Wild-Fowlers 169 



woodcock, and Loomis and Stoltz claim 

 I do quite as good shooting as any of the 

 10- and 12-gauge guns of their acquaint- 

 ance. I can't for the life of me see any 

 good reason for the use of a lo-gauge in 

 any sort of sporting this side of Africa, 

 since at single wing game the 12-, 14-, and 

 16- are quite as killing. Why burn un- 

 necessary powder ? Why carry an eight- 

 or nine-pound gun when an arm of six 

 pounds with its compact ammunition will 

 do the work the sportsman's work ? Of 

 course, a lo-gauge, loaded with heavy 

 charges of shot, will kill more birds in a 

 bunched flock, but sportsmen do not kill 

 more than one bird at a single discharge, 

 and they do not shoot at the bunches. 

 This is the market-men and milliners' busi- 

 ness. I am not advocating a business gun 

 or a business load or a business pursuit. 

 My dealings are with the sportsman and 

 his arm and ammunition. Why ride a 

 clumsy thirty-pound wheel when one of 

 eighteen pounds serves better? Why use a 



