394 INVISIBLE APPROACH. 



barrow, or march-of-intellect machine, or, whatever 

 we are to call it (the clods call it the " nwisable 

 proach") for the use of small guns. This was tried 

 by a gamekeeper, at some leverets feeding, which, on 

 seeing him, always ran into covert, three gunshots off. 

 But when he advanced in this machine, he killed some 

 with the greatest ease. I have withheld putting the 

 boughs or covering on this, in order to show the wheel- 

 wright how to make it. The expense of my little one 

 was about twelve shillings ; so that I dare say even a 

 rogue would make one for a guinea or thirty shillings. 

 The large one is a heavier and more expensive concern. 

 As an ambush to wait in, it answers comfortably for all 

 places, whether wet or dry. But to advance with it on 

 birds, we, of course, require tolerably good ground. Let 

 me see the man who will invent any thing to work a 

 stanchion gun over bad ground ! 



EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE. 



The first sketch represents a bird's eye view, to show the ma- 

 chinery, viz. the spiral spring, which closes by the recoil of the 

 gun ; the painted canvas that hides the fore-wheels ; and the pockets 

 convenient for stowing ramrods, c Q. Why is the spring not in 

 the centre? A. Because, if it was, that breadth which would cor- 

 respond with the space occupied by the shooter, would give an unne- 

 cessary increase of size and weight to the machine. The second is 

 a foreshortened view of the apparatus, dressed up with boughs, as it 

 appears when approaching birds and under mask of a wooded back- 

 ground. The third is a broadside view, with the gun fixed, showing 

 the rope-breeching, by the pull of which, on a sliding bar of wood, 

 the spiral spring is closed: the sliding support, on which the gun 

 rests firm, to whatever height you want to fire a sitting shot; and 

 the canvas cover above, which, when put on, conceals the opera- 

 tions of the shooter. The small machine, near the centre of the 

 plate, is for a common shoulder-gun, which may be rested on the 

 front bar, and thus fired, like a rifle. 



