top lever and extension-bolt; but below these prices I cannot recommend a purchaser to go.

HAMMERLESS GUNS are now made in such variety that almost every gunmaker has his special action. The principle is more than a quarter of a century old, but the first really useful plan was that of Mr. Murcott, patented in 1871. They may be arranged in three leading divisions--first, those in which the gun is cocked by the power of the lever; second, those in which the cocking is divided between the opening and the closing of the breech, but in both cases through the agency of the barrels.

Hammered guns with rebounding locks are safe during loading, because no jar can cause an explosion, the mainspring being at rest. All hammerless guns, however, are raised to full cock before reloading, and in closing the gun with the usual snap the scear is liable to be jarred out of bent. Both kinds of gun are intended, of course, to explode when the trigger is pulled

HAMMERLESS GUN. (C. LANCASTER'S ACTION.)

(supposing no safety-bolt in action) and also liable to be jarred off when both barrels are fired at full cock.

JARRING OFF cannot occur in loading in the hammered gun when both barrels are empty, because it is seldom or never loaded at full cock; but when one barrel only is to be loaded, and the other is, as often happens, at full cock, the danger is considerable and is not often provided for. Herein is one point in which the hammerless gun with proper safety-bolts is superior to the hammered.

The modern gun is useless without appropriate and well-fitted cartridgecases, and to ensure good shooting the wadding should also be adapted for it. Until lately the only cases used in this country were made of paper cylinders, with brass bases firmly attached, each containing a cavity differently formed for the pin or central fire ignition. Very few pinfire cases are now used, we may therefore confine our attention to the central fire, made of paper or brass, the bases in each instance being of metal.

PAPER CASES, until very recently, have been the only ones in general use in this country, but for a long time brass has been employed in America, where recapping is the rule rather than the exception, as it is with English sportsmen. The best cases made by Eley and Joyce can be reloaded two or

three times, but few people care to have the trouble of carrying them home. The exploded cap is then pushed back by a plunger armed with a central pin, and then a new cap containing a brass anvil is dropped into the little socket and gently pushed home.

BRASS CASES are made of two strengths by Messrs. Eley, one as light as the paper and very good, but 8s. to 10s. a thousand higher in price. Messrs. Kynoch, of Birmingham, make a light brass case, called the "Perfect,” of the same weight and price as the paper, and they are no doubt capable of doing excellent work. The anvil is made to project through the ignition hole, and by pushing down a loader without a projecting pin the cap may be driven out without any difficulty. These "Perfect" cases are about onequarter the thickness of the paper, so that the chamber of a 12-bore cut out for paper just takes a No. 10 case, the 14 bore taking a 12, and so on throughout.

WADDING.-In order to ensure good shooting with any powder, but notably with Shultze or E.C., a very tight-fitting wad is necessary over the powder, nearly or quite half a size larger than the bore. It should be grease proof, and of fine felt, about inch thick. On this is placed a felt wad, to inch thick, but not so tight, as it is desirable that the grease it is saturated with should be pushed out at its side when the force of the explosion is exerted. On this for perfect shooting a thin card wad is placed to prevent the shot balling, and on the shot another of the same kind. The wad over the powder is usually made with one face black (grease proof) and the other pink. All these wads should be firmly seated, but no more pressure used than is needed for that purpose. To ensure the transverse position of the wads, a tube with four internal side springs is made, which effects that purpose well.

The powder used with shot-guns was, until within the last fifteen years, always composed of nitre, sulphur and charcoal, now known as black powder. Since that time several compounds of nitric acid and vegetable matter have been introduced, known as nitro-compounds, notably Schultze and E. C. powders. At first gun-cotton and felt were tried, but they were soon discarded for several reasons. Then saw-dust came into vogue, treated with nitric acid in the same way as gun-cotton, but it is now carefully granulated by machinery to avoid the fine dust inseparable from ordinary saw-dust; and lastly, gun-cotton is mixed with other matters, and granulated in the form known as E. C. powder. No great improvement has been made in the manufacture of black powder for many years, the proportions in this country being-nitre, 75; charcoal 15; and sulphur, 10. The result when ground wet is a black paste, which is dried and granulated, being then sifted into various-sized grains, known by numbers, those usually employed by shot-guns being Nos. 4 and 6. This powder explodes at a temperature of about 600° Fahrenheit, and leaves considerable residue in the form of a black fouling, giving also a dense smoke. The nitro-compounds, Schultze and E. C., on the other hand give off so much less smoke as to be called smokeless. They also leave less fouling, and the recoil from an equal charge is considerably less.

THE CLEANING OF MUZZLE-LOADING GUNS should be conducted as follows:-Get a bucket half full of cold water, place the barrels upright in the water, and insert the cleaning-rod armed with a piece of sponge, or cloth, or tow, and work this well up and down. Then transfer the barrels

to a jug or other vessel of clean hot water, and remove by the scratchbrush any lead attached to the barrels. Next take them out of the water, and wipe all clean inside and out; then pass an oiled rag (not tow) down the inside, and rub over the outside with the same. All the iron-work should be slightly rubbed over with fine neat's-foot oil.

Breechloaders do not require any washing, inasmuch as, having no powderchamber to cake up, water is not needed to dissolve the residuum. If they are left for twelve hours the slight residuum in the barrels becomes moist by attraction of water from the atmosphere; and by using a damp sponge or piece of tow, the whole internal surface may be cleaned out, finishing with a clean, oiled mop of wool. This leaves the inner surface as bright as when new, which state ought to be maintained for an indefinite time. If either gun has its barrels leaded the scratch-brush must be used till the lead is removed; or by shaking some quicksilver up and down in the barrels, an amalgam will be formed with the lead, and it may in that state be readily removed without the use of the scratch-brush, which by many people is objected to. The great point is to keep the muzzles clean and free from rust, for it is upon this part of the barrels that good shooting mainly depends. They should be carefully oiled after putting the cleaning rod through; and if this is done, and the chambers with their shoulders kept clean and oiled, the cylinders of the barrels will take care of themselves now that greased wadding is invariably used.

MANAGEMENT OF THE GUN.-Before attempting to use the loaded gun, the shooter, whether young or old, should always make himself thoroughly master of it. Many of the accidents which so constantly occur arise solely from a neglect of this precaution; but if the sportsman is early drilled with the notion that he has a dangerous yet useful weapon in his hand, he will seldom forget the importance of the precept. One or two points should be diligently impressed, the most important one being-never to point the gun at any time, by design or otherwise, at anything but the mark intended to be shot at. It is astonishing how often this is neglected. Guns are often pointed in play at people with a desire to frighten them, or at dogs, cows, or other objects in mere wantonness or again whilst carrying the gun, its muzzle is held so as to point to every part of the visible horizon. All this is unsportsmanlike, unsafe, and worse than useless. There can be but three directions at which the gun should ever be pointed: first, while held with the triggerguard on the fore-arm, the point should be directed to the earth; secondly, on the shoulder, the point should be directed to the heavens; and thirdly, to the mark, wherever that may be. With this proviso kept steadily in view, even the gun at full-cock is perfectly safe, except from bursting.

LEARNING TO SHOOT.-Cocking and Uncocking the Gun should be diligently practised with the gun unloaded, as it is of vast importance as regards safety to obtain full command over the lock. If the hammerless gun is used, pushing the slide from "safe" should be practised while putting the gun to the shoulder. When a full mastery has been thus obtained, the pupil may proceed to

SHOOTING SITTING.-To effect this, use a moderate charge of shot, say one ounce, and 2 drachms of powder, and try your aim at any object, such as the stump of a tree, or a particular stone or brick in a wall, or any such mark, which will readily tell tales if you miss. Do not at first care much about hitting, but fire away until your nerves become quite steady; then try

to hit a card or sheet of paper, avoiding doors, which only lead to accidents. as the pupil is sure to pull the trigger after aiming at a door, even if it has been opened, and a man, woman, or child has made his or her appearance at it. When the card can be readily hit, proceed to take aim at any small birds, &c., which may be seen or come within shot; and when all these still objects can be mastered, the first part of your education may be said to have been satisfactorily accomplished. In taking aim, it is better to keep both eyes open, though many first-rate shots always close the left eye.

SHOOTING FLYING.-This is the grand object of the shooter's ambition, and one which he will soon learn to accomplish with greater certainty if his nerves are good, and he has only ordinary quickness and tact, improved by practice. The best way of learning to shoot flying is to begin by having a potato or turnip thrown across or away from you, and then shooting at it in the air. Nothing is more easy than to hit this while at its highest point, since it is then almost stationary; but the aim should be to hit the object while at its greatest pace. Then begin by shooting at any small birds which may cross your path on the wing. They will afford good practice, and show the necessity for shooting well in front of every bird when flying across the gun. According to the speed of flight must be the advance of your aim; but on an average, one foot is not too much for most birds of rapid flight.

The failure in killing birds on the wing, or ground game running, is attributable in nine cases out of ten to firing too low, when the object shot at is going from the gun, or immediately at it when crossing from left to right, or vice versa. When game is going from you near the ground, the aim should be full high, or the bulk of the charge, if not the whole of it, will pass below it; and when birds are higher than the gun going from you, the aim should be equally low, or the charge will pass above them. In cross-shots within say, thirty-five or forty yards, the aim should be at least a foot or a foot and a half in front of it; at greater distances the allowance should of course be more. In partridge shooting, always endeavour to get cross-shots if possible, and this may generally be done by walking across or heading your dog when pointing. If you go straight from him to the birds, they will generally go straight away; birds when flying across you present a far easier shot, and expose a more vital part.

Quietness in partridge shooting is a most valuable ingredient in a successful day's sport, and yet how seldom is it that it is practically observed and enforced! No one but those who have actually tested it on a hot day in September can form an idea what noise is made by two persons coming across a stubble; but when to the rattling and cracking of the straw is added the hum of conversation and the universal shouting of the keeper, " Car-lo!" "So-ho!" &c., &c., is it to be wondered at that birds should be considered wild? In nine cases out of ten, if silence were preserved the birds would lie will and be easy of approach. In proof of this, take an opportunity some day of lying down at the side of a field when two guns are crossing it, and you will be surprised at the noise they make, but will not be surprised that birds will not lie. Avoid calling or speaking to your dog as much as possible-a shrill whistle to attract his attention, and a movement of the hand in the direction you wish him to go, is far more effective, and will gain you many a shot which would otherwise be lost.

THE first thing one should think about, before either buying a dog or accepting a dog as a gift, is a proper place to keep him in. If he is to be a house-dog entirely, he will hardly be so healthy, nor will he live so long as if kept in the fresh open air. But people in towns, or even in villages, are often compelled from want of space to keep indoors the dog that is needed for companionship or protection. In this case, while he may roam about all day and lie down where he likes, provided it be not in front of the fire, for this is most prejudicial to his health, at night his bed should be made in one particular corner. All that is needed is a mat or sack or old rug; but whatever it be, let it be called a bed, so that, when evening comes, the dog may be able to attach some definite meaning to the words, "Go to bed."

An indoor dog's bed should not be spread behind a door, in any draughty place, in a cellar, or upon a brick or stone floor. To make a dog's bed in such spots is cruel and unkind. But to coddle him up in a warm bedroom, or to permit him to sleep on the sofa or on one's own bed, is an error in the other direction; for a dog will not be so healthy if so treated; nor, if he is one of the beautifully long-coated breeds, will his jacket remain for any length of time as it ought to be.