book on the subject--albeit he
has, perhaps unwittingly, cribbed my title of "Practical
Taxidermy"--appears to have attained remarkable proficiency in the use
of this weapon, and describes also his method of making it, thus:

"The blowpipe is of great service for collecting warblers and other
small birds. It should be made by encasing a long glass tube in wood,
to prevent breaking. The ordinary glass tubes used by glass-blowers
make good blowpipes, which should have a diameter of 0.5 in. and be
not less than 6 ft. long.

To encase a pipe with wood, take two strips of straight-grained pine,
and plane or "gouge" out a half-round groove the full length of each,
glue them together, and wire firmly over the glass pipe. When the glue
is dry, remove the wires, and plane the wood round until it has a
diameter of 1.5 in.; if smaller it will sag, and not do good shooting.
Putty balls should be used, and blown with a quick puff, which is
easily acquired by practice. The putty is thickened with whiting until
the pellets will roll hard, but they should not be dry enough to
crumble.

With this novel gun I have killed as many as fifty-six warblers in
less than a day, and spoiled but few specimens in killing."

Rowland Ward, also, in his "Sportsman's Handbook," appears to favour
the use of the blowpipe, and very correctly says at page 9:

"The implement is so simple and so easily constructed that the price
of it is inappreciable. About 3 ft. length of any straight metal or
wooden tubing, 0.75 in. diameter, through which a pellet the size of a
marble may be thrown, will serve well, but an even longer tube may be
chosen. The pellet should be of clay or any putty, rolled in the hand
to easily pass through the barrel without too much windage. It should
not touch the mouth, but be lightly placed just in the orifice, by
stopping which with the thumb the tube can be conveniently carried
loaded, muzzle up, ready for the most rapid use. To propel the pellet
the puff must be sudden and powerful. There is a proper way of
effecting this. When a practitioner first begins to use the blow-pipe,
it is a common error to eject the breath only direct from the lungs;
he should acquire the habit of inflating his cheeks, so as to make a
storage of wind, as it were, for each shot; that, added to the breath
from the lungs, gives a force which will sometimes astonish him. The
hand follows the eye in aim, and practice will often develop
unthought-of prof