4 FIELB ORNITHOLOGY. 



service in securing the parent of eggs that niight otherwise remain unidentified. I have no 

 practical knowledge of bird-line ; I believe it is seldom used in this country. A method oi 

 netting birds alive, which I have tried, is both easy and successfuJ. A net of fine green silk, 

 some 8 or 10 feet square, is stretched perpendicularly across a narrow part of one of the tiny 

 brooks, overgrown with briers and shrubbery, that intersect many of our meadows. Retreating 

 to a distance, the collector beats along the shrubbery making all the noise he can, urging on 

 the little birds tiU they reach the almost invisible net and become entangled in trying to fly 

 through. I have in this manner taken a dozen sparrows and the like at one " drive." But 

 the gun can rarely be laid aside for this or any similar device. 



Ammunition, — The best powder is that combining strength and cleanliness in the highest 

 compatible degi'ee. In some brands too much of the latter is sacrificed to the former. Other 

 things being equal, a rather coarse powder is preferable, since its slower action tends to throw 

 shot closer. Some numbers are said to be "too quick" for iine breech-loaders. Inexperienced 

 sportsmen and collectors almost invariably use too coarse shot. When unnecessarily large, two 

 evils result : the number of pellets in a load is decreased, the chances of killing being coiTe- 

 spondingly lessened ; and the plumage is unnecessarily injured, either by direct mutilation, 

 or by subsequent bleeding through large holes. As already hinted, shot cannot be too fine for 

 your routine collecting. Use "mustard-seed," or " dust-shot,'' as it is variously called; it is 

 smaller than any of the sizes usually numbered. As the very finest can only be procured in 

 cities, provide yourself liberally on leaving any centre of civilization for even a country village, 

 to say nothing of remote regions. A small bird that would have been torn to pieces by a few 

 large pellets, may be riddled vrith mustard-seed and yet be preservable ; moreover, there is, as 

 a rule, little or no bleeding from such minute holes, which close up by the elasticity of the 

 tissues involved. It is astonishing what large birds may be brought dovim with the tiny pellets. 

 I have Idlled hawks with such shot, knocked over a wood ibis at forty yards and once shot 

 a wolf dead with No. 10, though I am bound to say the animal was vdthin a few feet of me. 

 After dust-shot, and the nearest number or two. No. 8 or 7 wiU be found most useful. Water- 

 fowl, thick-skinned sea-birds, like loons, cormorants, and pelicans, and a few of the largest land 

 birds, require heavier shot. I have had no experience vidth the substitution of fine gravel or 

 sand, much less water, as a projectile ; besides shot I never fired anything at a bird except 

 my ramrod, on one or two occasions, when I never afterwards saw either the bird or the stick. 

 The comparatively trivial matter of caps will repay attention. Breech-loaders not discharged 

 with a pin take a particular style of short cap called a " primer; " for other guns the best 

 water-proof lined caps will prevent annoyance and disappointment in wet weather, and may 

 save you an eye, for they only split when exploded ; whereas, the flimsy cheap ones — that 

 " Gr D " trash, for instance, sold in the comer grocery at ten cents a hundred — usually fly 

 to pieces. Cut felt wads are the only suitable article. Ely's "chemically prepared " wadding 

 is the best. It is well, when using plain wads, occasionally to drive a greased one through 

 the barrel. Since you may sometimes run out of wads through an unexpected contingency, 

 always keep a wad-cuttef to fit your gun. You can make serviceable wads of pasteboard, but 

 they are inferior to felt. Cut them on the flat sawn end of a stick of fii-ewood : the side of a 

 plank does not do very well. Use a wooden mallet, instead of a hammer or hatchet, and so 

 save your cutter. Soft paper is next best after wads ; I have never used rags, cotton or tow 

 fearing these tinder-like substances might leave a spark in the barrels. Crumbled leaves or 

 grass will answer at a pinch. I have occasionally, in a desperate hurry, loaded and leilled 

 without any wadding. 



Other Equipments. — (a.) For the Gwn. A gun-oase will come cheap in the end, 

 especially if you travel much. The usual box, divided into compartments, and well lined, 



