46 



THE CANADIAN SPORTSMAN AND NATURALIST. 



taken by Mr. C. Pauli, gunmaker, upwards of 

 7 lbs. First-rate sport can be had on the 

 " bars," within a circle of a mile»from the 

 harbour mouth, and boats and boatmen, with 

 all requisites can always be had. To the orni- 

 thologist Belleville affords a fine field for col- 

 lecting ; the neighboring woods afford shelter to 

 various birds of prey, from the bald eagle 

 down to the sparrow-hawk and shrike ; the bay 

 is the favorite resort of many ducks, loons, 

 grebes, gulls, terns, and shore-birds, while the 

 extensive marches of Ameliasburgh, harbour 

 herons, bitterns, mud-hens, snipe, rails, and 

 other waders, and the golden plover frequents 

 the commons in large flocks. Professor Macoun 

 has collected during last winter and spring over 

 70 species of birds, a list of which I hope 

 to be able to send shortly. About four 

 miles below the city is Massassauga (Mis- 

 sissaugua) Point, one of the most picturesque 

 sites on our lovely bay. Here a large area is 

 being fitted up as a summer resort, with 

 a hotel and several detached cottages, and it is 

 intended to place it in hourly connection with 

 the city by a special steamboat. Here are also 

 held the regettas of the Belleville Yacht Club. 

 Having within its limits the terminus of the 

 Grand Junction and Belleville and North 

 Hastings Railways, Belleville offers every 

 facility for visiting the mining and hunting 

 districts of Hastings and Peterborough Coun- 

 ties, where the geologist can study the confor- 

 mation of the Laurentian and Huron ian series ; 

 the mineralogist can collect the iron, lead, cop- 

 per, gold and other ores and minerals of this 

 now celebrated region ; and the sportsman 

 will find deer and bear enough so exercise his 

 skill upon with the rifle, and the woods alive 

 with ruffled grouse (partridge), while the lakes 

 and rivers swarm with fish of every description, 

 from the lordly maskilonge andgi'eat lake and 

 speckled trout, to the humble perch, and the 

 despised cat-fish. Altogether, I do not know 

 any place where the comforts and conveniences 

 of city life can be so thoroughly combined 

 with the enjoyment of country sport, as in our 

 own little " City of the Bay." 



Jamba T. Bell. 

 Belleville, May 25, 1881. 



Dear Sir, — I have read with very great 

 pleasure the accounts given in your journal, 

 by " 12-bore Greener," of his trials at the 

 target. I consider that Canadian sportsmen 

 are much indebted to any one of their number, 

 sufficiently spirited to take the trouble, and 



incur the expense of making such reliable tests 

 of the shooting qualities of "choke-bored" guns, 

 with the various charges of powder and sizes of 

 shot. With my Hammerless Greener, which is 

 a No. 12, choked to No. 15, at 80 yards, I put 

 12 pellets of No. 6 American chilled" Tatham" 

 shot, (almost as large as No. 5 English), into a 

 foot square, and at 90 yards 7 pellets into the 

 same sized target. This was with 3 drams of 

 powder and one ounce of shot, and the penetra- 

 tion was sufficient, at both distances, to bury 

 the shot out of sight in a dry pine board. 

 I think, for general utility, handiness, con- 

 venience, rapidity of ignition, and unquestion- 

 able rapidity of firing, the hammerless gun is 

 infinitely superior to the gun with hammers; 

 and, within a very short time, amongst sports- 

 men, at least, must entirely supersede guns of 

 the old style of construction. The hammerless 

 gun of improved make is perfectly safe, handy 

 to use in a boat or canoe, and when loaded is 

 always ready. Having no hammers it can be 

 put easily and conveniently into a water-proof 

 cover, and in use the breech action can 

 never become locked by the striker forcing 

 its way through the cap and sticking there, as 

 sometimes happens with hammer-guns. The 

 irresistible force with which the tumblers are 

 drawn back to cock, entirely obviates the 

 chance of this difficulty occurring. In ad- 

 dition to the foregoing advantages, the 

 facilities afforded for fighting and shooting 

 amongst brush by the hammerless gun 

 are unquestionable. Hammers may be orna- 

 mental, but in the face of hammerless guns 

 they are entirely useless and superfluous. 

 For the information of " 12-Bore Greener," I 

 may say, that in my one trial with half ounce 

 charges of shot, although I had not the appli- 

 ances for measuring the force and velocity ot the 

 shot, the penetration was eminently satisfactory. 

 Yours truly, 



Hammerless Greener. 



Ottawa, May 23, 1881. 



P. S. — No sportsman of my acquaintance 

 ever made a practice of shooting Robins. Small 

 boys and thoughtless persons alone in this 

 neighborhood are guilty of this indiscretion. 



ENGLISH SPARROWS. 



The question as to the desirability or non- 

 desirability of introducing the English sparrow, 

 Passer Domesticus into Canada has been not 

 unfrequently discussed. My own opinion has 

 always been adverse to such introduction, 



