INTRODUCTION. 3 



more or less cruelty, in many cases to absolute barbarity, and 

 is at present carried to an alarming excess. Slaughter by 

 hundreds should be permitted among only a few eminent and 

 competent naturalists, such as Messrs. Allen and Coues. 

 Otherwise, it becomes an outrage upon nature, a positive 

 injury to science, and a mere source of seK-gratification. 

 Young collectors, who are not to become scientists, should 

 form their collections for the sake of beauty in nature, and 

 might well be satisfied with two good specimens, well-mounted, 

 of each kind, namely, the mature male and female.* In the 

 case of a scientific collection this would be wholly inadmissi- 

 ble, and collectors should certainly shoot any specimen of a 

 kind never before taken in that district where they may 

 chance to meet it, or those birds which they find in a country 

 new to themselves, or perhaps to all ornithologists. Other- 

 wise, may I venture to ask what new facts one can make 

 known from owning the skins of several hundred unfortunate 

 Robins ? All our rarer birds, or those of market value, are in 

 danger of being altogether exterminated, through a foolish 

 sense of glory on man's part, or through his reckless destruc- 

 tion of other than human life. It is also to be regTctted that 

 so many birds are shot before laying their eggs, owing to the 

 condition of their plumage, and their abundance, during or 

 immediately after their spring migrations. Nature's resources 

 should be drawn upon only in cases of necessity, or in contri- 

 bution to the advancement of mankind. Violation of nature, 

 as of the natural laws, must entail misery, and finally cause 

 us bitterly to regret our present thoughtlessness and inhuman- 

 ity ; errors which will probably continue until stricter and 

 efficient laws, consequently more general and simple laws, are 

 passed." 



The above remarks may need modification, but they express 

 a spirit worthy of serious reflection. 



§ B.* In forming a collection of eggs the chief requisites 

 are: — 



* This is most sound and wholesome * The following remarks are ad- 



advice, and is especially pertinent to dressed to the inexperienced only, 

 the present time. — W. B. 



