338 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 



Another point worthy of notice is this, that the breast 

 of all wild fowl is nearly impenetrably cuirassed against 

 shot by the dense cushion of down which envelopes it, and 

 that a blow behind is rarely on the instant effective to 

 bring down the fowl. So that unless the charge take 

 effect in the head and neck, well before the wing, or a 

 pinion be broken, the shot is generally thrown away. It 

 is, therefore, scarcely possible to fire too far in advance of 

 a single bird, crossing or passing over the gun at from 

 forty to sixty yards' distance. 



The guns most generally used are double-barrels of 

 twelve or fourteen pounds' weight, and about 8 calibre ; I 

 greatly advise, however, the use of two single guns, each 

 of fourteen lbs. and 5 gauge, which will carry a quarter of 

 a lb. of shot with ease from the shoulder, will chamber BB 

 as easily as the others will No. 2 — will recoil less, and will 

 do their work at flocks far more effectively at long or short 

 ranges. 



These guns, moreover, are infinitely safer, and are 

 handled as readily, if lightened toward the muzzle by 

 removing the ramrod and ramrod pipes, using a detached 

 loading-rod instead, and if needful, improving the balance 

 of the piece by loading the butt with lead. A little prac- 

 tice will soon enable a sportsman to use two of these guns 

 quickly enough to discharge both into the same flock, and 

 if he succeed in doing so, great will be the havoc he will 

 make. 



Another method, much employed in this paradise of 

 duck shooters, is to idle the ducks, as it is called, while 

 they are feeding along shore, quite out of range, into 



