4 DEER-STALKING. 



and shoulders, and if by chance striking a little far 

 back, the haunches rarely escape being cut about. The 

 writer has a vivid reminiscence of seeing the extraor- 

 dinary force of a Purday '500 bore solid bullet. A coup 

 de grace was fired at a wounded royal at quite close 

 quarters, and the bullet passed right through the horn, 

 which was of great thickness, about six inches above the 

 coronet, and drilled a hole as clean as if a centre-bit had 

 been used. In spite of the great shock this must have 

 given, the stag jumped up and dashed away as if unhurt ; 

 the bullet from the second barrel laid him low, and not 

 till we went up to him did we see the effect of the first 

 shot. 



With the same rifle the writer also knew the stag 

 shot at to be killed dead, the bullet passing right 

 through the heart and body ; another stag in the line 

 of fire was shot through the neck, and a third one 

 beyond received a broken hind leg, and all three were 

 put into the larder. 



The writer has placed his trust in the '450 rifle of 

 Mr. Rigby ; they shoot a bullet about seventy grains 

 heavier than those made by other makers ; in fact the 

 Rigby bullet is fully a quarter of an inch longer than 

 any other '450 bullet. The extra weight ensures a 

 greater shock to the animal struck by it, and in cases 

 of having to shoot a long shot across a high wind, less 

 allowance has to be made for windage. With regard 

 to the use of the hollow or expanding bullet in the 

 450 rifle, they are decidedly more deadly than the 

 solid one ; fewer wounded deer are likely to escape, as 

 the breaking up of the bullet cuts the arteries in all 



