10 MANUAL OF TAXIDERMY. 



has a second shot ready in the revolving cylinder, 

 is a great help, in case of a wounded bird, or in 

 the sudden appearance of a second specimen, as 

 so often happens, after the first has fallen. The 

 price of this gun varies from four dollars and fifty 

 cents to five dollars and seventy-five cents, accord- 

 ing to quality and size. Blow-guns, air-guns, 

 catapults, etc., are useful only in cases when a 

 shot-gun cannot be used, as they cannot be de- 

 pended upon. A collector, in order to procure 

 birds with a certainty, requires a good shot-gun. 

 The ammunition used in the small collecting gun 

 is copper shells, primed, of three lengths for each 

 size. For shot, I use dust numbers ten and eight, 

 but for a larger gun, coarser shot is sometimes 

 necessary; collectors, however, — especially begin- 

 ners, — are apt to use too large shot. On the con- 

 trary, I do not like to shoot too fine shot at large 

 birds ; thus a hawk killed with a heavy charge of 

 dust-shot at twenty yards would have the feathers 

 cut up very badly, whereas a warbler shot at the 

 same distance would be likely to make a good 

 specimen, as it would only receive a few pellets of 

 shot, whereas a large number would strike the 

 hawk. As a rule, then, use dust-shot for birds up 

 to the size of a cedar-bird, then number ten to the 



