16 TAXIDEllMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING. 



all perfect. If you cannot procure one of these knives, then buy 

 a good butcher-knife, and grind the blade down to this shape. 

 A knife with a straight edge is not fit to use, for many reasons. 



Always keep a good coarse (water) whetstone for large knives, 

 and a Wichita oil-stone and oil for your finer knives, and th.3 

 final touches to your large ones. 



SEASONS FOB COLLECTING. Mammals. In the temperate zone 

 never take fur-bearing or game animals before September 1st, 

 or later than February 1st, if possible to avoid it. On most 

 of these mammals the pelage is the finest during November 

 and December. It is then at its maximum length, very clean 

 and well dressed, and also at its brightest color. The rumi- 

 nants begin to shed in May (the American bison as early as 

 March), and by July the new hair upon them is only about half 

 an inch long, but very fine and sleek. At that time it does not 

 have its natural color. In our country, September, October, 

 and November are the months par excellence for the taking of 

 mammals, especially the large species, for after December 1st 

 the storms and snows of winter render their haunts untenable 

 for the hunter, unless he builds a cabin in the woods and makes 

 a winter of it. The haunts of the mountain sheep and goat 

 must be abandoned by December 1st, at the latest, on account 

 of the snow. The best time to take families of young mammals 

 is from May to August. If taken earlier they are too young, 

 and later they have passed their most interesting age. The 

 smaller the species are, the quicker the young mature, and in 

 collecting all such, the naturalist must be 011 the keen lookout 

 to take them at the precise time they reach the most interest- 

 ing size and age. 



Birds. In the temperate zone the best months for bird 

 collecting are March, April, May, June, September, October, 

 and November ; but since the study of migration depends upon 

 collections and observations made all the year round, there is 

 really no time to begin collecting, and no time to cease. At the 

 same time the amateur will soon discover that, aside from the 

 birds that are found only in their particular season, the greatest 

 number of species to be obtained in the Northern United States 

 come in the months mentioned ; and, of course, in the cold half 

 of the year they are most plentiful in the South, whither they 



