UPLAND SHOOTING. 
149 
diverging lines; and consequently, the longer the range the 
greater will be the interval between the grains. 
When birds are very wild, however, I strongly recommend 
the use of Eley’s wire cartridges, of the same No. 8 shot, which 
I consider an invention in gunnery second only to percussion 
I will state here briefly, for the benefit of those who have not 
seen this missile, that the object of the contrivance is to propel 
the charge, like a single ball, for some fifteen or more yards 
from the gun’s muzzle. After this distance the case bursts, and 
the shot diverges as in an ordinary charge. The gain, there¬ 
fore, in distance, is precisely that to which the case is driven 
unbroken. This differs in the three different kinds of cart¬ 
ridges, blue, red, and green. The last of these must never be 
used, except in fowl-shooting on the bays, as the range is pro¬ 
digious, and on Upland dangerous. The blue , which is the 
common kind, will increase the range of every gun, in close¬ 
ness as in strength, from fifteen to twenty yards; and the red 
from twenty to forty. The more heavily you charge with 
powder, the more closely will the cartridge carry ; the converse 
of this proposition being true of loose shot. 
It is useless, however, for any person to use Eley’s cartridge, 
who is not cool enough to let a bird, which gets up under his 
feet, go away twenty yards before firing at him; and who 
cannot shoot well enough to kill at forty, with an exceedingly 
close carrying gun. I have shot Snipe, when very wild, and 
Quail in open ground, very late in the season, with blue cart¬ 
ridges in my first, and red in my second barrel, and that with 
great success. I would, however, prefer the use of loose shot 
and a blue cartridge. 
With regard to dress, it may be well here to say a word or 
two ; for Snipe shooting is a difficult and dirty business, as far 
as the walking is concerned, and requires an athletic frame, 
and a hardy constitution. For my own part, I have never 
found any contrivance succeed in keeping the feet dry; for a 
single fall, or heavy splash, things of common occurrence, will 
fill the tops of the longest and most secure water-proof boots; 
