far greater distances than the above, but in such case you must put it down for hazard rather than certainty or good shooting. Should you fire beyond the distances I have named, let your sight be longer or higher; this is necessary to obtain a chance of sucWe are not writing a philosophical treatise, consequently I shall not submit to you the laws which regulate the escape of the shot from the gun. Neither you nor I having time to consider the causes, we must content ourselves with the result.

cess.

The shot will be sure to scatter if it be not of equal size, and round: it is therefore necessary to examine it well when you buy it. When purchasing shot, should I hesitate in regard to the number, I always buy the lowest; that is to say, the least shot, for it carries the best. You miss frequently at a long shot, but you are repaid at a fair distance. Believe me, the compensation is always to the advantage of a sportsman. With deer-shot a partridge may be killed at one hundred and fifty paces, but thirty following will be missed with it at twenty. Some sportsmen,

to the number of which I belong, are in the habit during the autumn of charging each barrel with different-sized shot, taking the near shot with one, the long with the other.

Be cautious not to put on the caps previous to loading your gun: this operatic a should be performed afterwards. The cap being fixed prevents the air forced down in the loading from escaping, and the nipples being filled with air do not admit of the powder entering. Having fired a shot, take the precaution not to let fall the hammer on the side which you have not discharged, and on all occasions when loading be careful to hold the barrels as far as convenient from your head.

Having loaded one barrel, never leave your ramrod in the other. A single shot may fix itself between the ramrod and the barrel, thus preventing your withdrawing it. This want of care once caused me to lose a splendid day's shooting, and I returned alone with an empty game-bag,

"Honteux comme un renard

Qu'une poule aurait pris."

Should both your barrels be discharged, always load them together. If, in order to gain time, you load one only, it is possible that several shot may fall into your empty barrel, and thus, when you load it, your gun my snap; which will necessitate your drawing the charge, by which you will lose more time than you have gained.

When you have only fired one barrel, it may be as well to slip the ramrod into the other, which will secure the wadding, as the shaking caused by loading not unfrequently loosens or displaces it, by which serious. accidents may be caused.

During the month of September, when the weather is very warm, your barrels become much heated after firing several shots: you must then diminish the charge, which nevertheless will have a greater effect than the ordinary one in cold weather. If you do not take this precaution, the violence of the concussion will be so great that your gun will of itself return to the half-cock.

The strength of the powder may be augmented by the sun, which dries up all the

C

damp particles. This principle once understood, during wet weather it is as well to increase the charge.

As a general rule, when you make use of the drawing-rod, invariably take off your caps; it is not sufficient to lower your cocks: at times the ramrod offers resistance: you cannot withdraw it yourself: you call a friend to your assistance-one pulls the rod, the other holds the gun. In this "pull devil, pull baker" position, a twig or branch of a tree touches the cock, and raises it to the half-cock; it requires scarcely as much to fire it.

Having loaded, see that the powder has well entered into the nipples. Should this not be the case, shake in a few grains, put on your caps, fix them well by letting down cocks : : you are armed: move on.

your

MAKE READY-FIRE.

"Le chasseur prend son tube, image de tonnerre; il l'élève au niveau de l'oeil qui le conduit; le coup part, l'éclair brille, et la foudre le suit."- DELILLE.

BUT I allow myself to be carried away by my subject. As yet we have not fired our first shot, and I have already detailed accounts of well-filled game-bags, from which dead partridges fall as billiard balls rolling from the horn of abundance daubed as the sign of a billiard-room. This digres sion, caused by some happy recollections, will reanimate your hope, and you will forgive me.

You have started, your dog precedes you, a bird gets up unawares; do not fire; you will miss it; and a repetition of such events will disgust your dog, who may possibly leave you.