Chapter V: Section II: SHOOTING.--Although, as shown, many valuable species

may be secured by trapping, snaring, etc., yet the collector relies mainly on his gun. This much being decided, it at once occurs to the beginner, What kind of a weapon shall I get? Of course, muzzle-loaders are now out of the question; and among the multitudes of breech-loaders in the market, one has only to consult his taste or the length of his purse. Therefore it is simply useless for me to recommend any particular make of gun. Good single-barrel breech-loaders can be bought for from nine dollars to twenty dollars, while double-barrels cost from fifteen dollars upward. For ordinary collecting, a twelve-gauge is perhaps better than any other, as such birds as ducks, hawks and crows can be readily killed with it. For warblers, wrens, and other small birds, however, a much smaller gauge gun is almost indispensable, as a large gun sends the shot with such force that it not only penetrates the body of the bird, but also goes out on the opposite side; thus each shot makes two holes, when one is all that is necessary to kill. This fact should then always be kept in mind, and as a rule load lightly, with just enough powder to cause the shot to penetrate well into the bird without going through it. In a twelve-gauge gun, two drachms of powder behind an ounce of shot is sufficient to kill a bird like a jay or golden-winged woodpecker, at a distance of thirty or forty yards; then if more penetration is necessary, more powder may be used with the same quantity of shot, but this will cause the shot to scatter more. A good collecting gun, one which will kill small birds with a very small amount of ammunition and little noise, has long been a desideratum. I have tried many kinds, but nothing has proved so satisfactory as a small repeating gun of my own invention, and which is manufactured by us. This gun consists of two brass tubes, a smaller one within a larger, with an air space between, thus greatly deadening the sound; and both are securely fastened to a finely nickel-plated five-shot revolver. We make two sizes, a twenty-two gauge, the report of which is very slight, and a thirty-two gauge, which makes a little louder noise. The former will kill warblers at fifteen yards, and the latter at twenty yards, while birds like jays, thrushes, and robins, may be brought down with the thirty-two gauge at a distance of ten yards. This gun served me well in Florida last winter, and I killed at least two-thirds of the birds that I collected there with it. The light report of such a gun does not frighten the birds, while the fact that one nearly always 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, according 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 depended 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 beginners,--are apt to use too large shot. On the contrary, 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 receive 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 size of a jay, after which number eight will kill better and cleaner, and I should use this size as long as it will bring down the birds; and it is surprising to see how large species may be killed with it. I have taken brown pelicans, wild geese, and large hawks with number eight, and I once secured a frigate-bird with it, all at good distances. For very large birds like cranes, white pelicans, or eagles I have used a rifle very successfully. A thirty-two gauge Allen is my favorite gun, and I have killed birds at all distances from twenty to three hundred and twenty-five yards with it. Of course, nearly all successful rifle shots must be made at sitting birds, as I have met with but few who could bring them down when flying. Another good method of securing large shy birds which go in flocks, is to load with buckshot, putting a stiff charge of powder, say three to five drachms, behind it, then fire into the flock from a distance, elevating the gun at an angle of some forty-five degrees above the birds. I have killed both species of pelicans at two hundred yards distant in this way.