GEESE 279 



paratively smokeless the whole effect of the shot taken 

 at long range can be noted. Thus, naturally, the gunner 

 will derive far more enjoyment from his sport, and, more- 

 over, frequently recover certain of his wounded birds 

 that, not being smoke-hidden, cannot steal away and be lost 

 to him. Suffice it to say, that whatever advantages or 

 degree of comfort in sport the game-shooter finds accorded 

 him by the use of a suitable nitro as against black powder, 

 the wild-fowler will find proportionately magnified when 

 using such powders in guns of large calibre. The strength 

 and endurance of the wild-fowler are usually sufficiently 

 taxed with the handling and firing of heavy shoulder- 

 guns. Additional discomforts, therefore, in the form of 

 needless smoke, flame, noise, shock, and recoil may well 

 be dispensed with. 



The selection of the most suitable sizes of shot for the 

 various birds and distances he will shoot at is a consider- 

 ation of vital importance to the wild-fowler. In the 12- 

 bore No. 4 will be found sufficiently large for most 

 purposes when following ducks. No. 3, however, has shot 

 remarkably well in several of the larger 12-bores that I 

 have used, and as this size seems to fit this bore excel- 

 lently, wild-fowlers might do worse than try No. 3 for the 

 longer shots which so often have to be taken on the open 

 coast in the daytime. For flight-shooting, and all close- 

 range work undertaken with the 12-bore, No. 5 will be 

 found sufficiently heavy; for tougher fowl such as curlews 

 and geese, a dose of No. 2 for the first-named, or of BB. 

 for the latter, will frequently prove most effective in a 12- 

 bore, and be the means of bagging fowl when smaller 

 sizes would not answer. 



In guns of wider bore the wild-fowler may look to 

 obtain the best results with shot still larger in size. It 



