18 TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING. 



the A. O. U., it will be all the better for him to be taught to 

 place a high value on every bird, living or dead. 



SHOOTING BIEDS AS A PASTIME. I cannot, without being pro- 

 fane, find language strong enough to adequately express my ab- 

 horrence of the damnable practice some parents have of provid- 

 ing thoughtless boys with shot-guns and ammunition for the 

 slaughter of birds and small mammals, just for the fun (!) of the 

 thing, or to become proficient in the use of the gun. For the 

 killing of birds for food, or to mount for the cabinet, or to study 

 intelligently, there is some excuse ; but for the slaughter of 

 birds as a boyish pastime there is no excuse whatever, and 

 either boys or parents who have such a disregard for life as to 

 make it possible should be fined as heavily as can be done under 

 the law. Firearms and their users are multiplying at such a 

 frightful rate that it seems highly probable the time will come 

 when there will be no more wild birds or quadrupeds left upon 

 the face of the earth. 



It is a good thing for a boy to be taught to shoot, and skill in 

 the use of a rifle may fairly be regarded as an accomplishment ; 

 but the taking of life is .not in the least necessary to its acquire- 

 ment. If a boy wants to shoot for the sake of becoming an ex- 

 pert with the gun, give him a rifle and a target, or a shot-gun 

 and clay pigeons, that he may start in the right direction. Do 

 this, and the chances are ten to one that he gets ten times the 

 sport and twenty times the benefit out of rivalry at the target 

 that he would out of roaming over the country and killing every 

 bird he can discover. Even in the immediate vicinity of Wash- 

 ington a song-bird can hardly raise a note without attracting a 

 boy with a gun. 



POISONING AND TRAPPING MAMMALS. Inasmuch as there are 

 in print a number of good books that treat this subject exclu- 

 sively, I may be spared the labor of taking it up here. The 

 reader must be assured, however, that traps and strychnine are 

 very valuable allies in collecting, and he who ignores them will 

 lose much. Above all things, carry with you plenty of strych- 

 nine, use it industriously, and it will bring you many a fine car- 

 nivore you would not get otherwise. Poison a skinned carcass 

 by cutting gashes an inch deep in the rump and other fleshy 

 portions, and putting strychnine in them. Also cut up chunks 



