THE TTOKKEtt AND THE WORK TO BE DONE. 



ing- all kinds of animal specimens, in all climates, is perfectly 

 nimple to any one who has enough enterprise to inform himself 

 of the most reliable methods, and put them in practice. 



I will confess I feel very deeply on this point, for I have 

 toiled, needlessly, unnumbered hours, and days too, in overcom- 

 ing 1 , as far as possible, the inexcusable blunders of collectors. 

 I have seen thousands of dollars wasted in tliis way that could 

 have been saved by good work in the field. It is easier to 

 mount two good skins within five per cent, of perfection than to 

 mount one poor one not nearly so well. Let me advise the 

 directors of all scientific museums, institutions of learning, and 

 patrons of natural history generally, when appealed to by an 

 enthusiastic collector for funds with which to go abroad and 

 collect an untold amount of pricoless specimens, in every case 

 withhold your aid until the would-be collector demonstrates 

 conclusively that he has learned how to collect. If he has not 

 wit enough and grit enough to acquire ability, and then prove 

 property, he is not fit to send anywhere, save back to the bosom 

 of his family. 



These are the qualities which are required to make a first- 

 class collector : He must have a fair general knowledge of 

 zoology, especially the vertebrates. He must be a good shot, a 

 successful hunter, and capable of great physical endurance. 

 Then he must be a neat and skilful operator with the knife, and 

 conscientious in the details of his work, down to the smallest 

 particulars,' for without this quality his specimens will always 

 be faulty and disappointing. In addition to all these require- 

 ments he must be a man of tireless energy, incapable of going 

 to bed so long as there are birds to be skinned, and who, when- 

 ever a doubt arises in his mind in regard to the necessity of 

 more work on a specimen will always give the specimen the benefit 

 of the doubt. 



I strongly advise every one who becomes a collector to learn 

 to sketch from nature. No matter whether you have any artis- 

 tic ability or not, if you are determined about it, you can learn 

 to make pencil sketches of rare specimens in the field, and of 

 native houses, costumes, weapons, etc., and remarkable natural 

 objects of all kinds, which, even though crude and inartistic in 

 finish, may be of permanent value to the scientific world. The 



