FOREST AND STREAM 
[Jan. i6, 1909. 
the trigger has been pulled, and during the 
flight of the shot. Sprigs can jump thirty feet 
to a side in a second; at fifty yards it takes the 
shot a seventh of a second to travel that dis¬ 
tance at 1,000 feet per second initial velocity. 
The interval is plainly noticeable to the shooter, 
who can hear the shot strike and often see the 
feathers fly. Therefore any increase in velocity 
is valuable as tending to reduce this cause of 
misses, while inasmuch as most missed ducks 
are shot behind, the faster the load, the less 
likelihood of such error. 
There can be no question that the smaller 
bores call for closer holding, nor that they have 
a tendency to kill clean or miss clean that 
endears them to their users. It seems the out¬ 
side shot have less force than a twelve; the 
core does the work, and birds hit with the outer 
shot are not penetrated at long ranges, while 
with the twelve they are crippled, body shot, 
often lost, which is worse than a clean miss. 
The smaller barrel probably by friction, kills 
the flight of the outer ring of shot in each 
layer, but the rest will go into the thirty-inch 
circle, most of them into two feet. My sixteen 
will put from 40 to 50 per cent, of the charge 
into a two-foot circle right along at forty yards, 
likewise the twenties. 
Size of shot must be considered. Sixes work 
splendidly in the sixteen; sevens in the twenty, 
although some of these handle sixes very well. 
As an experiment, I fired a box of eights at 
ducks one day, and the way the twenty cut them 
up at considerable distances was a great sur¬ 
prise to me. I got a number that I never 
would have thought of firing at with a twelve 
and No. 8 shot. 
“W.” recommends observing the directions 
on the powder cans. If this be done, the small 
bores are doomed. For the twelve, the Nobles 
recommend a maximum charge of y/2 drams 
Empire, all well enough; but for the sixteen, 
2}4, and for the twenty, 2 drams, are decidedly 
minimum, not maximum loads. As for dense 
powders, I would not advise anyone to load 
them; I have done it successfully enough myself, 
but they are not things for the amateur, with 
even the best tools, to attempt. For the sixteen, 
23 grains Ballistite, and for the twenty, 20 
grains, would be my loads, with at least three- 
quarters of an inch of soft felt wadding on top 
to ease the initial jar. These powders are to be 
loaded without pressure, and if properly 
wadded, will give good results, but I prefer 
bulk. They do not give any greater velocity 
than the bulk, but burn more quickly in the 
gun and get the shot away an instant sooner. 
On long shots one must lead about the same; 
in fact, I do not believe dense powders hold 
pattern at long ranges like bulk. There is too 
much danger of the fiery gases getting past 
the wads into the shot and fusing it; this is, I 
believe, the chief cause of balling, so often seen 
in dense powder patterns. Dense powders are 
hotter, as proved by the way the barrel heats up 
in rapid shooting. 
These grudging admissions that “it is possible 
that some shooters use the smaller bores quite 
successfully on wildfowl” are gracefully con¬ 
doned by the flattering compliment that “ex¬ 
traordinary skill is necessary for satisfactory 
results.” I consider myself no great sharp as 
a duck shot; never a day goes by that I cannot 
look back on a dozen birds that I ought to 
have got, and slop-shot or otherwise missed, 
but believe I can kill ducks as far and about as 
regularly with a sixteen as anything else, and 
am now taking up a twenty in earnest; have, in 
fact, been hammering away occasionally with 
one in a dilettante sort of way for a couple of 
seasons past. Any skeptical person can get a 
liberal education in small-bore shooting by 
watching some of our Southern California duck 
hunters knock down the limit with their six- 
teens and twenties. The day is past when men 
feel that they must lug eight pounds of pot 
metal about to do the work that six will per¬ 
form quite as well. 
If one loads his ammunition, there is enough 
saving to pay interest on the cost of a new gun, 
if an average amount of shooting is done. The 
saving all comes in quantities, however; 
empties, wads, all cost about alike. Shot is the 
big item, and against mounts up 
in 5,000 or 6,000 shells to quite a sum. 
As for big shot, it might surprise a number 
of people to make a few patterns with large 
shot of the various sizes in a sixteen. I had a 
friend who owned one that would throw No. 3 
to perfection, and could not be surpassed, so 
far as it went, by any gun of any gauge I ever 
saw. My sixteen throws fours very well also, 
but there are so few of them in a charge, and 
they have so much of a tendency to encourage 
wild and aimless shooting at unreasonable 
ranges that I do. not advocate their use. 
Duck shooting here is not easy; in fact, is as 
hard as anywhere that No. 6 is the standard 
size, Edwin L. Hedderly. 
Recent Publications. 
The Blue Peter, by Morley Roberts. Cloth, 
235 pages, $1.50. Boston, L. C. Page & Co. 
As indicated in the title, this is a collection 
of yarns of the sea by the author of “The Pro¬ 
motion of the Admiral.” One of the best of 
them relates the adventures of the crew of a 
tramp steamship which collided with an ice¬ 
berg in the fog. The men took to the berg, 
which drifted south, melting rapidly, and pro¬ 
viding smaller and smaller space as the time 
passed. 
Caught on the Fly, by Arthur St. John New¬ 
berry. 306 pages, illustrated from photo¬ 
graphs by the author. Cleveland, Ohio, the 
Britton Printing Company. 
Only 120 copies of this book have been 
printed, and those who have received numbered 
copies from Mr. Newberry are indeed fortunate, 
for the narrative is entertaining, the pictures 
and decorations excellent, and the binding and 
presswork superb. The cover is of green 
leather, with hand finished gold ornamental 
border. The chapters open with initial letters 
in red, and the illustrations are sepia tinted from 
half-tone plates. 
Many of the chapters appeared originally in 
Forest and Stream, but have since been revised 
and added to by the author, who has also given 
the results of his riper experience in the hunt¬ 
ing field and along the streams of the United 
States and Canada, as well as beyond the sea. 
The work is dedicated to Theodore Roosevelt. 
The Forest and Stream may be obtained from 
any newsdealer on order. Ask your dealer to 
supply you regularly. 
The Reporter Dog. 
Continued from page 59. 
One of the most famous setters of America, 
Count Noble, was a reporting dog, so-called. 
As he was a wide ranger, and dropped to his 
points, he was frequently lost. Indeed, in the 
open fields, where there was a heavy growth 
of grass or weeds, he was often quite as effect¬ 
ually lost on point as if in the densest thickets. 
Consequently, it was necessary to watch him 
constantly as he might drop to point and dis¬ 
appear instantly. Many times the search for him 
was futile. .As he would not abandon a point 
to the order of voice or whistle, there was no 
sensible way to meet the situation other than to 
remain in one place and silently await his re¬ 
turn. It was noted that, when he returned from 
a point, made where the shooter could not find 
him, he trotted in, in a stealthy, gingerly man¬ 
ner, his hair standing out to a degree which made 
him appear very much larger, and his eyes had a 
set look, similar to that exhibited by most dogs 
when actually pointing. If permitted then to 
have his own way. Count Noble would, with a 
display of infinite caution, lead the shooter 
directly to the bevy. 
Some dogs, after being lost on point for a 
while, will return to some place within view of 
the shooter. Each has a different manner then. 
One may stand and at the same time expectantly 
wag his tail. If followed, he leads the way to 
the birds. Each dog has his own peculiar char¬ 
acteristics in conveying the information. 
In Forest and Stream of Jan. 2, 1890, there 
is a recountal of reporting dogs, by Nottinks, as 
follows: “I have seen but two, both setters. 
The first was a dog owned by Sage, of Great 
Barrington, Mass. He came to the edge of the 
brush and made a half point, then went in out 
of sight. Sage seemed to understand him and 
followed, and after going perhaps 150 yards, he 
came to a solid point on a woodcock, which he 
evidently had found and came back to report, 
as the wind was from dog to bird. Whether 
he was. in the habit of doing so I cannot say, 
but from what I saw, I thought it probable that 
he was. The other instance was of a dog owned 
by me a long time. Old Tommo. He has come 
back to me hundreds of times to report, and 
led me many a jolly tramp through brier and 
brush, to find at last a woodcock, the only bird 
I ever saw him report, in a spring hole in the 
midst of a dense thicket.” 
“B.,” in Forest and Stream of Jan. 9, 1890, 
writes: “In the article on ‘The Reporter,’ in 
your issue of Dec. 19, your correspondent writes: 
‘It is asserted that a dog cannot be trained to 
report’ I have trained a setter to report. Out 
of five dogs that I have owned I have trained 
■ two to report. I consider that any dog that is 
not inclined to be timid, can be taught to re¬ 
port. I use a dog call and whistle on it when 
I want him to come to me. Then suppose that 
I am in the field and he should run off after 
a rabbit or birds and does not come back at 
once when I whistle; as soon as I catch him 
I give him a severe thrashing and whistle all 
the time. Thus he learns that he must come 
when he hears the whistle. I also whip or scold 
him every time he flushes a partridge, whether 
I have called him or not. Teach the dog (i) 
that he must come to the whistle; (2) that he 
must not flush a bird under any circumstances. 
Then he will reason out the matter for himself.” 
