126 



THE CANADIAN SPORTSMAN AND NATURALIST. 



Indian was killed by a Canada Lynx, and his 

 brother's description of his death and removal 

 for burial. Among birds, I record the capture 

 of the Sandhill Crane, Grus Canadensis, shot 

 by Mr. P. Martin on St. Clair flats. I obtained 

 it from him. He killed another which unfor- 

 tunately flew into an unapproachable morass 

 and was lost. I accompanied him on the 

 next day to hunt for it; the mud was deep and 

 we could not find bottom with an eight foot 

 paddle. The surface was covered with rank 

 weeds and other vegetable refuse., preventing 

 us from pushing the canoe into it or over it, 

 and to attempt walking on it would be a mad 

 idea. I shot the King Rail (Rallus elegans,) 

 and had it mounted; also a Yellow Rail 

 (Porzana Novaboracensis). I presented these 

 two birds to Mr. John Morden of Hyde Park. 

 A very fine specimen of Rallus Yirginianus 

 shot on the flats may be seen at anv time 

 among his beautiful collection of Canadian 

 birds. Among rare ducks, I secured two fine 

 specimens of the American Black Scoter 

 (CEdemia Americana) ; also the Velvet Scoter 

 (CEdemia fusca) ; they are magnificent birds. 

 I killed some splendid Canvas-back which I 

 prize highly, as they are becoming scarce, but 

 I am sorry to add that I lost a fine young 

 specimen of the Red-necked Grebe, (Podiceps 

 Holbolli,) which by the carelessness of the 

 Express Co., was not delivered until spoiled. 

 I particularly regret this, as I have only pro- 

 cured one specimen during many years. The 

 Great Northern Diver, (Cotymbns torquatus,) 

 is common but difficult to obtain. I am not 

 aware that Colymbus Arcticus has been noticed 

 on the inland lakesj but I have shot three or 

 four of the Red-throated Diver, (C. Septeniri- 

 onalis). I have also seen the great White 

 Heron, and one was killed near Wallaceburgh 

 Co. Kent, but the ignorant person who shot 

 it, allowed the bird to spoil. The Least 

 Bittern, (Ardetta exiles) and Night Heron, 

 (Nyctiardea grisea), are not uncommon on 

 the St. Claire flats. 



J. H. Garnier. 

 Lucknow, 27th Feb., 1882. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH GUNPOWDER. 



Sir, — I send you a report of some experi- 

 ments I have been trying with the following 

 powders, thinking it might be of interest to 

 some of your readers. I have been unable to 

 carry out the trial of the different kinds of 

 powder I mentioned to you some time ago, 



owing to the difficulty I have in obtaining it in 

 such small quantities (viz. : 12 charges of 3 

 drams each.) 



00 CO t* 



O tO O *Q 



** ^ tH 



O 00 -5 



CO fl CO !N 



o «» 



, fe cafe a 



;s cog 



'O fl *d fl 



^ : 

 <3_g 



.° ■*< 



SO 

 5* 



£ - 2 



CO fl fl 



: 6 ^ S .2 



Pill 



3 W M co 



W CO *-" CO t> 

 C5 00 CO t> 00 



CO -<r CO •*£ *o 



t- O t> CO "*** 



O t3 'ti *d ^ 



Jd T3 'd 'O ^ 



?4 o 





I may state the recoil spring was screwed 

 up to 60 pounds. 



The fine grain powder (Pigou, Wilks & 

 Laurence's and Hamilton FF) did best with the 

 2£ dram charge, both in pattern and pellet 

 force. Shultze's powder also gave the best pat- 

 tern, but the force was not quite so good ; the 

 recoil being the same as with 3 drams of 

 Curtis & Harvey's, and " Caribou " fell off 

 very much, although the recoil of the former 

 was four pounds heavier and the latter ten 

 pounds lower. The heavy recoil with the 2£ 

 dram charge was probably caused by the 



