DUCKS 291 



He had even got a breech-loading gun, which was, of 

 course, a move in the right direction, as it often secured 

 him a shot when his rivals were slowly ramming down 

 the charges in their obsolete weapons. One idle morn- 

 ing, after coming in from flight-shooting, I got the man 

 to " plate " his gun, as I was curious to know in what 

 manner it contributed to his success. As there was no 

 appearance of choke in the barrels I did not look for 

 very close patterns ; still, I was not quite prepared 

 for the shooting that was presented. Three shots from 

 each barrel with some cartridges of my own containing 

 loads of ij oz. of No. 6 shot failed to produce higher 

 averages than about 80 pellets on the 3O-inch circle at 

 40 yards ; whilst with cartridges loaded by the man 

 himself, with harder and thinner wadding than mine, and 

 with I J oz. of No. 5 shot, the shooting was not so regular 

 although the patterns displayed on the circle counted 

 much the same. This more fully opened my eyes as to 

 the amount of success achieved in practice with a gun 

 throwing thin patterns. For those who shoot wild-fowl 

 on flight and in the daytime, an excellent plan will be to 

 have two pairs of barrels affixed to their guns one pair 

 fully choked for shooting in daylight, when long shots are 

 the rule ; and the other pair cylinder-bored to give much 

 wider killing-circles for night shooting when shots are 

 obtained at short ranges. 



The wild-duck is now a well-recognized quantity on 

 many sporting estates in this country. It is well known 

 that this bird is hardy and easy to rear, and now that it 

 has been conclusively proved that wild-duck may be 

 brought up to the guns and made to yield continuous sport 

 of the highest order during the daytime, there is assuredly 

 a greater future than ever before this fine sporting bird. 



