30 SUGGESTIONS AND DIRECTIONS FOR FIELD-WORK. 



tlian the "rarest" bird of that state, and would certainly be 

 worth a, hundred Massachusetts skins ; the Varied Thrush 

 {Turdus noivius) that was killed at Ipswich, Mass., is worth a 

 like number from Oregon. But let all your justifiable destruc- 

 tion of birds be tempered with mercy ; your humanity will be 

 continually shocked with the havoc you work, and should never 

 permit j^ou to take life wantonl3^ Never shoot a bird you do 

 not fully intend to preserve, or to utilize in some proper way. 

 Bird-life is too beautiful a thing to destroy to no purpose : too 

 sacred a thing, like all life, to be sacrificed, unless the tribute 

 is hallowed by worthiness of motive. " Not a sparrow falleth 

 to the ground without His notice." 



§18. What is "a good day's work?" P^ifty birds shot, 

 their skins preserved, and observations recorded, is a very 

 good day's work ; it is sharp practice even when birds are 

 plentiful. I never knew a person to average anywhere near it ; 

 even during the "season" such work cannot possibl}^ be sus- 

 tained. You may, of course, by a murderous discharge into a 

 flock, as of blackbirds or reedbirds, get a hundred or more in 

 a moment ; but I refer to collecting a fair variety of birds. 

 You will do very well if you average a dozen a daj^ during the 

 seasons. I doubt whether any collector ever averaged as many 

 the year around ; it would be over four thousand specimens 

 annually. The greatest number I ever procured and prepared 

 in one day was forty, and I have not often gone over twenty. 

 Even when collecting regularly and assiduously I am satisfied 

 to average a dozen a da}^ during the migrations, and one-third 

 or one-foin"th as many the rest of the year. Probably'' this 

 implies the shooting of about one in five not skinned for vari- 

 ous reasons, as mutilation, decay, or want of time. 



§19. Approachixg birds. There is little if VLwy trouble in 

 getting near enough to shoot most birds. With notable excep- 

 tions, they are harder to see when near enough, or to hit when 

 seen ; particularly small birds that are almost incessantly^ in 

 motion. As a rule — and a curious one it is — difficulty of 



