FOWL SHOOTING. 
131 
of each barrel of a gun, either barrel of which will only weigh, 
at the outside, 10 pounds; and I presume, judging from his 
remark concerning its handiness, he would make it much lighter. 
The same ratio would give a charge, exceeding 5 ounces to the 
13 pound gun, which Colonel Hawker holds unfit to carry 
above 3. 
A gun so built and so loaded, would be positively dangerous; 
and one properly built to carry 4 ounces of shot from each bar¬ 
rel, without recoiling, should weigh from 32 to 40 pounds, a 
weight which cannot be discharged without a rest. 
Observe, also, that an overloaded gun not only kicks, but by 
recoiling loses force, scatters, and overshoots. 
It is for these reasons that I have recommended the use of 
two 7 guage, 42 inch, 13 pound single guns, as infinitely supe¬ 
rior to any double gun that can be held out. They will carry 
one-third more shot, and that two sizes larger, to almost double 
the distance, besides being twice as handy. 
Hawker’s scale of shot is No. 3 to 1 for guns of 10 or 12 
guage, 2 ounces ; 1 to A for guns of 7 guage, 3 ounces ; A to B 
for guns of 5 guage, 4 or 5 ounces. 
And you may rely upon it, that larger shot and larger charges 
will produce no good effect, besides hurting the shoulder, and 
perhaps bursting the gun. Remember that for very long shots 
you should increase the quantity of powder and reduce that of 
shot. To kill wild-fowl, cross shots at long distances, going be¬ 
fore the wind, you should either keep the gun moving in the 
direction of the bird’s flight, after the trigger is drawn, if you aim 
directly at your bird; or you must fire from 2 to 5 feet in front 
of the fowl, according to its distance and rate of locomotion. 
I will only add here, that although all the varieties of Duck 
and Goose I have enumerated and described above, are killed 
in greater or less abundance on Tong Island waters, by far the 
most plentiful, and with exception of the third named, the most 
esteemed, are the Canada Goose, the Brent Goose, the Scaup 
or Broadbill— which is a very indifferent bird—and the Red¬ 
head, which is by far the best of all, though far inferior to the 
