MUZZLE-LOADERS AND BREECH-LOADERS. 161 



original quick spring and sharp click, will become 

 dull and weak, till they will scarcely discharge the 

 cap ; and the stock, warping with the weather, will 

 exhibit yawning fissures between itself and the iron 

 lock-plates or false breech. 



In lightness, however, is the great superiority of 

 the highly wrought implement ; and in hard tramp- 

 ing through a dense swamp of a hot July day, 

 or deep wading in a soft snipe-meadow, or in a 

 wearisome trudge over hill and dale after Novem- 

 ber quail, a pound will make itself felt in the addi- 

 tional weight of the fowling-piece, and not only so, 

 but a light gun can be handled more readily. In 

 open shooting, especially for the wild fowl of our 

 bays and coasts, mere weight is a positive advan- 

 tage ; but in the tangled thickets, where birds flash 

 out of sight like gleams of party-colored light, and 

 the instantaneous use of the piece can alone secure 

 success, a light gun is an absolute necessity. 



Moreover, on certain occasions, when the barrels 

 ai'e exposed to an extraordinary strain, when the 

 piece built for light charges and upland shooting is 

 used temporarily upon the larger game of the coasts 

 or woods, and the two and a half drachms of powder 

 and ounce of fine shot are replaced by a dozen buck- 

 shot, or an ounce and a half of No. 3 driven by five 

 drachms of powder — then it is pleasant to feel that 

 the iron is of the utmost possible tenacity and the 

 workmanship in every way faultless. 



A learned dissertation on the science of gun- 

 nery is neither appropriate to the occasion nor 



