364 LEWIS'S AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



injury, owing to this manner of holding the piece. If the hand, 

 however, had been extended along the whole length of the stock, 

 as formerly was the practice, we are satisfied, from actual examina- 

 tion of the shattered weapons, two or three of them would have lost 

 nearly the whole hand, and some of them perhaps have died of 

 tetanus, brought on by the severity of their wounds. 



This plan of holding the gun cannot be so easily adopted by 

 duck-shooters, as the length and weight of the barrels preclude the 

 feasibility of rightly balancing the piece with the proper degree of 

 steadiness without extending the hand farther along the barrel 

 than the point of the guard. 



This is rather unfortunate, as we know of no kind of shooting 

 in our country that is attended with so many distressing accidents 

 as the pursuit of wild fowl; and the most of these casualties arise 

 from this one circumstance, the bursting of the barrels, owing to 

 heavy charging. We would therefore caution our friends against 

 the use of a common duck-gun, and would also advise them to be 

 particular in loading, as well as in keeping their person out of the 

 bursting-range of a suspicious weapon in the hands of some one of 

 their more reckless companions, who perhaps prides himself on 

 being knocked over at every discharge of his piece. If the gun 

 is not already too heavy for comfort, it may be rendered more 

 manageable by loading the butt with metal, so as to make it 

 balance in the hands with more ease. 



COCKING THE GUN. 



In most kinds of shooting we are in favor of carrying the gun 

 cocked in preference to half-cocked, for the following reasons : In 

 partridge-shooting, as before stated, the most of our hunting is 

 done in the thick coverts, and when the birds are scattered about 

 it is impossible to tell where or when they will get up, as the dog 

 is lost to view one-half of his time, and the first intimation we have 

 of his position, although within a few rods of us, is the whirring of 

 a bird from under our very nose, and of which we only catch a 

 glimpse in the distance as it rushes through the thick foliage or 



