What is "fowling pieces"

Usage examples of "fowling pieces".

I would guess those fowling pieces have an effective range of about one hundred meters.

It will be mostly with swords and cudgels: I doubt if there are fifty fowling pieces in the whole town, and the powder for them is probably damp.

Crowded as it was with tables, benches, stools, kegs of beer, bundles of hides, a small handloom in one corner, a chiffianier-with a most incongruous chiming clock, adorned with cupids-in another, a bed against the wall, two settles by the hearth, a musket and two fowling pieces hung above the chimney breast, and various aprons and cloaks on pegs by the door, the presence of a sick goat was surprisingly inconsequential.

There were ancient fowling pieces, musketoons, horse-pistols, and even a matchlock.