THE GUN, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 83 
possibility of mistake, that these trials are directed for a 
general fowling-piece of 31 inches and 14 gauge. For 
ducking guns of all descriptions, a longer distance will be 
required correctly to test their properties. 
For the double-barrelled duck guns which I have 
recommended for river or marsh shooting, of ten lbs. 
weight, three-foot barrels and 8 or 9 gauge, fifty to fifty- 
five yards should be the distance with loose shot, and the 
piece ought to execute at that range with the same effect 
as the lighter gun at forty. ‘ 
The great fowling gun, again, of 16 lbs. four foot bar- 
rel and 5 gauge, ought to do its work with three or four 
ounces of shot, at sixty-five yards, as powerfully and with 
as much penetration as the others at forty and fifty-five. 
Beyond this, I have nothing to say in regard to the 
choosing a gun. ek 
If he will follow the instructions laid down above, the 
merest novice who wishes to buy, may be sure of getting 
what he asks for, and is willing to pay for. 
The quality of what he gets, must, after all, rest with 
the amount that he is willing to pay. 
I shall now proceed briefly to teach how to use the gun 
when it shall be chosen. How to carry; how to clean; 
how to load; how to learn to shoot it. 
T cannot make a man a crack shot, but I can show 
him how to be a safe one. “ Legere et seribere,” says J. 
Cypress, Jr., “ est paedagogi sed optime collineare est dei.” 
Reading and writing come of schoolmasters, but a crack 
shot is the work of God. 
