UPLAND SHOOTING. 
317 
Nevertheless, I say, if any man be disposed to go to the trouble 
of importing an English gun at all, let him import a first-rate 
and first price London article. I never saw a Birmingham gun 
I would have cared to shoot with; and I do not consider that 
Westley Richards’ merits at all equal his reputation. I consider 
Purdey, Lancaster, and Moore and Gray, the first three makers 
of the day ; and were I offered the gift of a gun, with the choice 
of the maker, I should name the latter house as my makers. 
No. 4 shot I consider quite large enough for any kind of 
fowl, unless Canada Geese, or Wild Swans; but I would al¬ 
ways use a green Eley’s cartridge in one barrel. The best 
powder, beyond all question or comparison, for fowling, and es¬ 
pecially sea shooting, is what is called Hawker’s Ducking Po wder, 
prepared by Curtis and Harvey, as the diamond grain of the 
same house is by all odds the quickest, strongest, and cleanest 
powder in the world. The grain of the ducking powder is ex¬ 
tremely coarse—coarser than cannon powder—and very hard ; 
it is not, therefore, liable to become damp or liquefied, when 
exposed to a saline atmosphere. Notwithstanding the large 
size of its grain, it is readily ignited even in a small gun, by one 
of Starkey’s central fire waterproof caps. One of these, for an 
experiment, I kept forty-eight hours in a tumbler full of water, 
and it exploded quickly and cleanly. There is nothing like 
them,—but, like all good things, they are dear. For the rest, a 
person who cares to keep but one gun, will find himself able to 
do good work with a general shooting piece of 14-guage, 32 
inches barrel, and 8 lbs. weight, even at fowl, if he uses No. 4, 
Eley’s wire cartridges. Verbum sap. And so adieu to Upland 
shooting. 
