JO 
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 receiye 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 
