r 



SUGGESTIONS AND DIBECTIONS FOR FIELD-WORK. 17 



to kill them as quickly and as painlessly as possible, without injuring the plumage. This is 

 to be accomi)lished, with all small birds, by suffocation. The respiration and circulation of 

 birds is very active, and most of them die in a few moments if the lungs are so compressed 

 that they cannot breathe. Squeeze the bird tightly across the chest, under the wings, thumb 

 on one side, middle finger on the other, forefinger pressed in the hollow at the root of the neck, 

 between the forks of the merrythought. Press firmly, hard enough to fix the chest immovably 

 and compress the lungs, but not to break in the ribs. The bird will make vigorous but ineffect- 

 ual efforts to breathe, when the muscles will contract spasmodically ; but in a moment more, 

 the system relaxes with a painful shiver, light fades from the eyes, and the lids close. I 

 assure you, it will make you wince the first few times ; you had better habitually hold the 

 poor creature behind you. You can tell by its limp feel and motionlessness when it is dead, 

 without watching the sad struggle. Large birds obviously cannot be dealt with in this 

 way ; I would as soon attempt to throttle a dog as a loon, for instance, upon which all the 

 pressure you can give makes no sensible impression. A winged hawk, again, will throw itself 

 on its back as you come up, and show such good fight with beak and talons, that you may be 

 quite severely scratched in the encounter : meanwliile the struggling bird may be bespattering 

 its plumage with blood. In such a case — in any case of a large bird making decided resist- 

 ance — I think it best to step back a few paces and settle the matter with a light charge of 

 mustard-seed. Any large bird once secured may be speedily dispatched by stabbing to the 

 heart with some slender instrument thrust in under the wing — care must be taken too about 

 the bleeding ; or, it may be instantly killed by piercing the brain with a knife introduced into 

 the mouth and driven upward and obliquely backward from the palate. The latter method is 

 preferable as it leaves no outward sign and causes no bleeding to speak of. With your thumb, 

 you may indent the back part of a bird's skull so as to compress the cerebellum ; if you can 

 get deep enough in, without materially disordering the plumage, or breaking the skin, the 

 method is unobjectionable. 



Handling Bleeding Birds. — Bleeding depends altogether upon the part or organ 

 wounded ; but other things being equal, violence of the haemorrhage is usually in direct pro- 

 portion to the size of the shot-hole ; when mustard-seed is used it is ordinarily very trifling, if it 

 'occur at all. Blood flows oftener from the orifice of exit of a shot, tha:n from the wound of 

 entrance, for the latter is usually plugged with a little wad of feathers driven in. Bleeding from 

 the mouth or nostrils is the rule when the lungs are wounded. When it occcurs, hold up the 

 bird by the feet, and let it drip ; a general squeeze of the body in that position will facilitate 

 the di'ainage. In general, hold a bird so that a bleeding place is most dependent; then, pres- 

 sure about the part will help the flow. A " gob" of blood, which is simply a forming clot, 

 on the plumage may often be dexterously flipped almost clean away with a snap of the finger. 

 It is first-rate practice to take cotton and forceps into the field to plug up shot-holes, and stop 

 the mouth and nostrils and vent on the spot. I follow the custom of the books in recommend- 

 ing this, but I will confess I have rarely done it myself, and I suspect that only a few of our 

 most leisurely and elegant collectors do so habitually. Shot-holes may be found by gently 

 raising the feathers, or blowing them aside ; you can of course get only a tiny plug into the 

 wound itself, but it should be one end of a sizable pledget, the rest lying fluffy among the 

 feathers. In stopping the mouth or vent, ram the fluff of cotton, entirely inside. You cannot 

 conveniently stop uj) the nostrils of small birds separately ; but take a light cylinder of cotton, 

 lay it transversely across the base of the upper mandible, closely covering the nostrils, and 

 confine it there by tucking each end tightly into the corner of the mouth. In default of such 

 nice fixing as this, a pinch of dry loam pressed on a bleeding spot will plaster itself there and 

 stop further mischief. Never try to wijye off fresh blood that has already wetted the plumage ; 

 you will only make matters worse. Let it dry on, and then — but the treatment of blood- 

 stains, and other soilings of plumage, is given beyond. 



2 



