THE RIFLE AND THE SPY-GLASS. 3 



with solid or expanding bullet, is by far the most power- 

 ful weapon of the two. The average weight of the 

 450 bore is about eight pounds and three-quarters, 

 that of the '500 bore about nine pounds and a quarter ; 

 both rifles can, however, be made fully half a pound 

 lighter, although this causes a proportionate increase 

 in the recoil. 



In the Highlands you seldom carry the rifle for any 

 considerable distance, so that half a pound more or less 

 need not be much consideration. We have the well- 

 known racing dictum that weight will bring a race- 

 horse and a jackass together, the former being in this 

 case represented by your stalker ; there is, therefore, 

 no reason for using a very light weapon, and the full 

 weight makes a fairer handicap. If your coat, lunch, 

 flask, and spare cartridges be added to this, it will be 

 none too much, for in ninety-nine cases out of a 

 hundred the forester will be in far better walking order 

 than his " gentleman." 



A Highlander accustomed to the work will comfort- 

 ably carry a weight that seems appalling if taken on to 

 one's own shoulder; and yet he will easily walk ahead 

 of his gentleman. I well remember a west coast 

 keeper, who having worked his dogs and carried the 

 bag all day as it was filled, would "jaunt" home beside 

 me for five miles or more, with twenty brace of grouse 

 over his shoulder and the spare cartridges to boot ! 



The writer is strongly of opinion that where a *500 

 bore is used the expanding bullet should be discarded 

 entirely ; even if planted in the right spot it destroys 

 and renders unfit for the table a good deal of the neck 



B 2 



