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Nov., 1915 A CONVI?NII?NT COLLI?CTING GUN 227 arm. From this gun the rifled barrel was unscrewed and packed away in vase- line. An eight-inch, smoothe-bored, full-choked barrel of lighter weight was screwed into place. The very neat bit of work was done by Mr. W. H. Wil- shire of Cline & Cline Co., Los Angeles, California. The result is a light and handy weapon, easily carried in a belt holster, which will chamber a special, long shell. The shells are loaded and reloaded indefinitely according to the following formula: Three grains Ballistite carefully measured, one felt wad ?/?-ineh thick, nearly fill with shot and cover with card wad, dip in paraffin. With the above charge of dust shot, the gun was targeted at forty feet from the muzzle (see fig. 76). The shot was remarkably uniformly distrib- Fig. 76. COLLECTING PISTOL, AND CARDBOARD TARGET FROM THE REVERSE SIDE. DUST-SHOT OVER THREE GRAINS BALLISTITE, AT FORTY FEET. THE SMALL CIRCLE IS ONE INCH IN DIAMETER AND WAS PENE- TRATED BY FOUR PELLETS. uted and 83 percent of the charge was placed within a circle of fifteen inches diameter. Dust shot penetrated twenty-five sheets of napkin tissue paper. With no. 9 shot the penetration was sixty-one sheets of paper. With this arm the writer has collected Spotted Owl, Long-cared Owl, Cooper Hawk, Mountain Quail, Hybrid Flicker, many smaller woodpeckers, and some hundreds of smaller birds. In addition to birds, ground squirrels, elnpmr. nks, lizards and snakes have been taken. The herpetologist needs no other arm. Of course if you are going on a regular collecting expedition, take a