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may be used for a whole month without your losing half a charge.

While pressing the spring with the forefinger, and thumb, draw the top just out; then take a fresh hold over handed, so as for the first finger and thumb to steady the hand by pressing the muzzle of the belt, and the second finger to be just within the ridge of the top, and by closing the second finger a little, the top will be sufficiently drawn out. The instant you have taken this fresh hold, lean the body, with a little jerk, to the right, and the shot will fill the top, of which your second finger will have such a command, that none will be spilt.

Before you put the first measure into the barrel, lean a little to the left, or the shot will pour out of the belt; and in loading your second barrel, you must observe the same motion of the body to the right and left. In doing all this, the left hand should never be taken from the gun. Be sure always to keep the spring inwards, and have your shot-top made rather longest in the part which comes under while filling it.

When we have acquired the knack of this, nothing can be more quickly done, long and tedious as it may appear in explanation.

Always have the tops of your shot belt made to fit nicely into the muzzle of your gun, by which means, in the process of drawing your charge, you can empty your shot into them without losing a grain.

To avoid losing the top, attach it with a piece of string to the shot-belt.

[1853. The old-fashioned belt just alluded to is still the best for very large or very small shot, as it gives a more correct measure of those sizes than the now universally

used pattern of Sykes, which, however, is far more handy for speedy loading with any shot between Nos. 4 and 7 inclusive; but with large duck shot the charge is not so accurately measured, and snipe shot is apt to become jammed in the lower interstice of the top, and prevents the slide from acting. The tops are generally made of steel; but those manufactured of German silver are more durable and not so liable to corrosion.]

DRESS OF A SHOOTER.

THE study of dress in everything further than always to appear like a gentleman, or strictly in the character of what a man professes (except to the age of two or three and twenty, when it is as natural for a young man to study dress as for a child to play with toys), might possibly, with many persons, give rise to a reflection on a man's understanding, or a suspicion that he was a "knowing hand," who made a business of adorning his person, in order to get on the weak side of weak people. I therefore, lest the book should fall into the hands of some philosopher, feel a hesitation in introducing any subject so frivolous, except for the object of suggesting what contributes to comfort, for the perusal of some citizen, who makes his first start as a shooter.

Jean, nankeen, fustian, velveteen, and all the other articles that formed the sporting wardrobe of our fathers, are now completely "snuffed out "snuffed out" by the admirable Scotch woollen fabrics, which may be had of every hue and texture, and are thus suited to every variety of climate and temperature.

A complete suit of the same stuff for general shooting is the most advisable, and saves an increase of baggage in travelling. A shooting jacket should be made loose and easy, so that your gun may come up readily to the shoulder-the pockets should be so placed, and the articles

for loading so distributed in them, as to enable you to load with speed and facility, and without the necessity of shifting your gun from one hand to the other; for which purpose the following plan will be found the most expeditious. Carry your powder horn in the left-hand breast pocket, either inside or out. Your shot belt (one of Sykes's), slung over the left shoulder, should rest in (but not touch the bottom of) your right-hand pocket, which should also contain your wadding, because the same "motion" that returns the belt to the pocket brings back from it a couple of wadding for your two charges of shot. On both shoulders where the trigger-guard rests, your jacket should be patched with a piece of soft leather. Your caps can be got at easily, with forefinger and thumb, without taking off your glove, if placed in the lower righthand pocket of your waistcoat.

Before entering on a shooting campaign, it is imperatively necessary that the sportsman should start well shod, as nothing can be more vexatious than returning home crippled after the first day's sport, owing to a neglect of this precaution.

It only remains to add, that for general shooting, the most approved colour is the "shepherd's plaid," or the fabric known in the north by the name of the "granite pattern."

With respect to hats, the modern "wide-awake" and the stalking cap are the most convenient, being light and effectually sheltering the face from the sun.

APPARATUS.

Ir may not be amiss to remind the beginner, or even the old sportsman, what articles he should know that he has with him before starting for the field, as there are few, I dare say, who have not occasionally left something behind; indeed, I could mention a near relative of my own, who once started for a day's shooting without his gun; this, and sundry other occasional omissions, suggested the following plan, which I will insert for the benefit of those who choose to adopt it. Have in your gun-case a card on which is legibly printed such articles as are absolutely requisite, and any others that you are in the habit of carrying; stick this up over the mantelpiece, and before starting, with gun in hand, "call the roll."

For example, here is a copy of my relative's:

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