84 



THE OOLOQI8T 



retain the advantage of being ready 

 for large ones, wliereas if you carry a 

 gun of very small gauge, as most of 

 the so-called collecting guns are made, 

 you will frequently experience keen 

 disappointment because a large bird 

 presents a chance for a shot and your 

 weapon is too small to collect it. On 

 the salt-marshes in summer, with a 

 twelve-gauge gun and these light loads 

 I have collected Least Sandpipers in 

 perfect condition for mounting, and in 

 the woods in late autumn, with the 

 same gun loaded with a solid round 

 ball I have bagged a large ten-point 

 buck deer, thus taking the smallest 

 as well as the largest game which 

 this state afforded without any extra 

 cost except a few specially loaded 

 shells. 



An auxiliary barrel can be pur- 

 chased which will fit inside the twelve- 

 gauge and allow the use of thirty-two 

 or thirty-eight caliber metallic shells, 

 and many collectors use them, but 

 personally I much prefer the lightly 

 loaded shells of standard size. Some 

 use brass twelve-gauge shells which 

 can be reloaded many times, but I 

 found that there were several dis- 

 advantages which generally accom- 

 panied their use, not the least aggra- 

 vating of which was the tendency to 

 miss-fire occasionally. If you use new 

 paper shells and throw them away af- 

 ter discharging them, the cost is 

 trifling and you have the least pos- 

 sible amount of trouble and I think 

 the very best results. 



Many printed directions advise that 

 after shooting a bird and plugging the 

 bill, nostrils and shot holes with cot- 

 ton, to wrap the bird in paper before 

 placing it in your coat. If a few drops 

 of blood happen to ooze out of the 

 specimen later they will very likely 

 spread along the smooth surface of 

 the paper and when you unwrap your 

 specimen you will find the blood 



smeared on the feather over a much 

 larger surface than you expected. I 

 always carry in the back of my hunt- 

 ing-coat a small sized bath towel, one 

 of the soft variety called Turkish 

 towels by the dry-goods dealers, and I 

 use this to wrap up my choicest speci- 

 mens in, simply laying a bird on the 

 edge and rolling it up in the towel. 

 Then if any blood drips out the towel 

 absorbs it almost immediately and the 

 feathers are kept much cleaner than 

 by any other method I have tried, thus 

 saving a lot of valuable time other- 

 wise spent in washing and cleaning 

 the plumage when making up skins. 



Perhaps the most important item of 

 all is the one which you most often 

 neglect, and that is your note book. As 

 to the style of book to use, just suit 

 yourself, for it is not the book but the 

 notes which you write in it that count. 



For my own use I prefer a leather 

 covered loose-leaf book for permanent 

 records and keep it in my desk at 

 home, to avoid the possibility of losing 

 it, and I carry a small note book in 

 my pocket while out collecting so 

 that I can hastily put down notes 

 during the actual work, and then I 

 copy them into my record book dur- 

 ing leisure time. Do not trust any- 

 thing to memory if you wish to be 

 sure of it at any future time, but 

 write it down as soon as you have 

 an opportunity. If you ever attempt 

 to write out a detailed report of your 

 field work, especially after a lapse of 

 time, you will be sure to fervently 

 wish you had kept more and better 

 notes. Although it is most impos- 

 sible to write a satisfactory record 

 in the few moments you can spare 

 during outdoor work, it is best to put 

 down as much as you can for you will 

 be sure of that at least, even if your 

 regular record is neglected for a few 

 days which is liable to be a common 

 occurrence. 



