16 IMPLEMENTS FOR COLLECTING, AND THEIR USE. 
cartridges as well as to loading by the muzzle. When about 
to recharge one barrel see that the hammer of the other stands 
at half-cock. Do not drop the ramrod into the other barrel, 
for astray shot might impact between the swell of the head 
and the gun and make it difficult to withdraw the rod. During 
the whole operation keep the muzzle as far from your person 
as you conveniently can. Never force home a wad with the flat 
of your hand over the end of the rod, but hold the rod between 
your fingers and thumb; in case of premature explosion, it 
will make just the difference of lacerated finger tips, or a 
blown-up hand. Never look into a loaded gun barrel; you 
might as wisely put your head into a lion’s mouth to see what 
the animal had for dinner. After a miss-fire hold the gun up 
a few moments and be slow to reload; the fire sometimes 
‘“hangs” for several seconds. Finally, let me strongly impress 
upon you the expediency of light loading in your routine col- 
lecting. Three-fourths of your shots need not bring into 
action the gun’s full powers of execution. You will shoot 
more birds under than over 30 yards; not a few, you must 
secure, if at all, at 10 or 15 yards; and your object is always 
to kill them with the least possible damage to the plumage. 
I have, on particular occasions, loaded even down to 40z. of shot 
and 1idr. of powder. There is astonishing force compressed 
in a few grains of powder; an astonishing number of pellets 
in the smallest load of mustard-seed. If you can load so 
nicely as to just drive the shot into a bird and not through 
it and out again, do so, and save half the holes in the skin. 
$10. To sHoor successfully is an art which may be acquired 
by practice, and can be learned only in the school of experi- 
ence. No general directions will make you a good shot, any 
more than a proficient in music or painting. To tell you that 
in order to hit a bird you must point the gun at it and press 
the trigger, is like saying that to play on the fiddle you must 
shove the bow across the strings with one hand while you fin- 
ger them with the other; in either case the result is the same, 
a noise— vox et preterea nihil—but neither music nor game. 
4 



\ 
a 
2a 
‘ 
ry 
j 
