

114 ' APPENDIX TO MANUAL. 
without employ of colored wads as suggested in the text. They may 
be taken into the field empty, and loaded on occasion to suit; but it is 
better to pay a trifle extra to have them loaded at the shop. In such 
case, about four-fifths of the stock should contain mustard-seed, nearly 
ail the rest about No. 7, a very few being reserved for about No. 4. 
Cost of ammunition is hardly appreciably increased; its weight is put 
in the most conveniently portable shape; the whole apparatus for 
carrying it, and loading the shells, is dispensed with; much time is 
saved, the entire drudgery (excepting gun-cleaning) of collecting 
being avoided. Iwas prepared in this way during the past summer 
for the heaviest work I have yet succeeded in accomplishing during 
the same length of time. In June, when birds were plentiful, I easily 
averaged fifteen skins a day, and occasionally made twice as many, 
As items serving to base calculations, I may mention that in four 
months I used about two thousand cartridges, loaded, at $42 per M., 
with seven-eighths of an ounce of shot and two and three-fourths 
drachms of powder; only about three hundred were charged with shot 
larger than mustard-seed. In estimating the size of a collection that 
may result from use of a given number of cartridges, it may not be 
safe for even a good shot to count on much more than half as many 
specimens as cartridges. The number is practically reduced by the 
following steps :— Cartridges lost or damaged, or originally defective ; 
shots missed: birds killed or wounded, not recovered; specimens 
secured unfit for preservation, or not preserved for any reason; speci- 
imens accidentally spoilt in stuffing, or subsequently damaged so as 
to be not worth keeping; and finally, use of cartridges to supply the 
table. I will add, that my preference for central-fire cartridges con- 
tinues. 
Page 10, line 7 from bottom, for where read when. 
“18; ‘at half-cock.”. Some guns are now fitted with a ‘“‘re- 
bounding” lock, as it is called; an arrangement by which the hammer 
flies back to half-cock as soon as it has delivered the blow. This 
device enhances safety, and is particularly eligible for breech-loaders, 
since the gun may at once be broken down, reloaded and relocked, 
without fingering the hammer. 
Page 28; rarity of birds. In striking illustration of the text may be 
cited the eases of Baird’s Bunting and the Missouri Skylark, both 
birds which remained for many years among our special desiderata, 
but which are two of the most abundant and characteristic species of 
Northern Dakota, where I lately took as many of each as I wanted. 
(See Am. Nat. vii, 1873, p. 695.) 
Page 28. Treating of the suite of each species that it is desirable 
to secure, I neglected to speak particularly of the care that should be 
taken to procure full series of females. Most miscellaneous collections 


