Taxidermy and Zoological Collecting. W. J. Holland
No. 8 smooth-bore, double-barrelled, which, though weighing less than 10 pounds, never kicked seriously, even with enough powder (6 drachms) to send a zinc bullet through an elephant's skull and brain, and out on the other side. With such a weapon there will be no need to run after an animal, nor run away from it either, after you get one fair shot at it.[1]
For hunting large birds and small mammals a No. 10 shot-gun is the best; but if you are specially interested in birds and care little for mammals, a No. 12 breech-loader with top-snap action will be preferable. For my purposes, however, my No. 10 double Werner and No. 16 Maynard always worked beautifully together, and I think these two sizes afford the best combination a collector can find. Being very strongly built, I often loaded my No. 10 with a single ball, and bagged many a fine Indian bison in that way.
I always used heavy brass shells with all my shot-guns, for the following reason: I could not spare room to carry paper shells, the rains I encountered would have spoiled too many of them, and away from home they were too expensive a luxury for me to afford. The brass shells are expensive to start with, but they last forever, or until they are lost.
Hints on Hunting.—The duty of a naturalist to his specimen begins when he levels his gun at it in the field.
Do not shoot a specimen to pieces, or mutilate it beyond recognition by its own mother.
Study the moral principles of your guns, find out exactly what they will do with what you put into them, and then don't shoot your specimens too much. What is a tiger worth with the top of his head blown off, or a deer with a great hole torn in his side by an explosive bullet?
Three vital principles to be observed in hunting specimens are the following: See everything ahead, and allow nothing to see you. Shoot to kill, but shoot so as to get your specimen with the least possible mutilation. A squirrel shot with a rifle is usually unfit for a specimen, and a bird with its legs shot to pieces, mandibles shot off, and half its tail feathers torn to pieces is about the same as no bird at all, unless it happens to be a rare one. In using a rifle, get as close to your game as you can (unless it be a tiger or bear!), so as to be sure of getting it. With the shot-gun, get as far away as you dare, so as to get no more shot into your bird than is necessary to kill it.
It is a disgrace for a collector to shoot a bird to pieces and be obliged to throw it away.
I append a showing of what I use in collecting, according to circumstances. It is hardly likely that any two collectors in the world agree on these points, therefore I do not expect that these tables will suit the old hands. I put them forth as mere suggestions to beginners.
Recommendations in Regard to Hunting with the Rifle.
| Animals to kill. | Weapon to use. | Charge of | Weight of | Best |
| powder. | bullet. | distance. | ||
| Elephant | Smooth-bore, | 6 drs. | Spherical, | 30 yds. |
| No. 8. | pure zinc. | |||
| Tiger, bear, elk, deer, sheep, seals, | ||||
| large crocodiles | Maynard, 45. | 85 grs. | 295 grs. | 75 " |
| Apes, monkeys, small ruminants, | ||||
| and small carnivora | Maynard, 40. | 60 " | 200 " | 50 " |
Recommendations in Regard to Hunting with the Shot-gun.
| Animals to kill. | Weapon to use. | Charge of | Charge of shot. |
| powder. | |||
| Deer | No. 10. | 6 drs. | 20, No. 8 buckshot. |
| Fox | " 10. | 5 " | 1–½ oz., No. 00. |
| Woodchuck | " 10. | 3 " | 1–¼ " " 2. |
| Squirrel | " 12. | 3 " | 1–½ " " 6. |
| Chipmunk | " 16. | 2 " | 1 " " 10. |
| Eagle Duck | |||
| Powder. | |||
| Eagle, crane, vulture | " 10 or 12. | 5 drs. | 1–½ " Double 00. |
| Turkey buzzard | " 10 or 12. | 4 " |
1–¼ " No. 4.
|