COMPARATIVE RANGES OF GUNS. 361 



well mark the word well up to a hundred and 

 twenty yards, I wish I could there and then peg tame 

 ducks or ganders to the shore and step the length. 

 I would offer a sovereign for every bird killed, and 

 ask but one shilling for those let off. There is 

 scarcely a limit to the distance at which a punt-gun 

 will kill by a mere chance ; that is nothing gained ; 

 what you want is the longest distance at which it 

 acts well. As to shoulder-guns, sixty-five yards is 

 a long shot for the heaviest of them, let alone a 

 hundred, or a hundred and twenty. To drop a few 

 Dunlin out of a swarm of these birds at the latter 

 distance with BB. is no criterion whatever of a 

 gun's power (see page 421). 



