THE 00L0QI8T 



35 



When camping out with a hunting 

 party you will probably return to 

 camp at the end of many a strenuous 

 day with wet feet, empty stomach 

 and a dirty shot-gun to look after, 

 and when these are all properly 

 taken care of and the rest of your 

 camp mates light their pipes and sit 

 up around the camp stove recount- 

 ing their experiences, if you happen 

 to be the taxidermist of the party 

 with birds to skin which keep you 

 busy for an extra hour or two, your 

 record book is sure to get slighted 

 occasionally. But do the best you 

 can under all circumstances to keep 

 your records, for they may stay with 

 you for years after you have parted 

 with the specimens collected, and 

 they will be of real value to yourself 

 and others of similar tastes as your 

 data accumulates. 



There yet remains much work to 

 do in this line before we have a com- 

 plete account of even some common 

 species. For in spite of all that has 

 been written about our birds, when 

 you become interested in a special 

 line of investigation it is astonish- 

 ing to find out how many pub- 

 lications you may have to consult 

 before you find the information you 

 wish, if indeed you find it at all. You 

 will probably find a general state- 

 ment covering the subject as a whole, 

 but definite exact statements which 

 can be applied to the locality in which 

 you are interested are usually few 

 and far between. 



When collecting do not allow your- 

 self to become discouraged by poor 

 success, especially when shooting 

 birds if you happen to miss a fine 

 specimen, and have tlie mortification 

 of seeing it fly away toward the dis- 

 tant horizon. If you allow your tem- 

 per to be ruffled by such an occur- 

 rence it will probably spoil your 

 nerve for shooting for the rest of the 



day. Make up your mind to take 

 every good fair shot that chance al- 

 lows you and if you miss be philo- 

 sophic about it and keep perfectly 

 cool until another chance is present- 

 ed. For if you continue to shoot 

 calmly you are bound to get more 

 birds than if you allow excitement 

 or ill nature to disturb you. 



Never give up discouraged for the 

 day until it becomes too dark to shoot, 

 for it will sometimes happen after a 

 day of poor success in collecting that 

 a lucky shot just at dusk will reward 

 you with a fine specimen. Even after 

 dark as you trudge homeward you 

 may occasionally get a good shot at 

 an owl perched up on a bare limb 

 where its outline is visible against 

 the sky. 



The man who patiently sticks to 

 the work, day in and day out, is the 

 one who will in the end be able to 

 show a good collection, for it takes 

 time and patience to build up even a 

 small collection representing typical 

 examples of the birds of any locality. 



Never be afraid to shoot when a 

 bird is within range even if flying 

 through tres at such an angle that 

 you are likely to miss, for it is no 

 disgrace to miss a difficult shot. The 

 man who is always figuring up and 

 telling you just what percentage of 

 his shots are successful is generally 

 waiting for a sure sliot or he will not 

 discharge his weapon. The true test 

 to apply to any man with a gun, either 

 the sportsman or the collector, is to 

 allow him all the ammunition he can 

 use and then see what he can show 

 for it when the day is over. 



Many birds pursued by sportsman 

 can be hunted successfully with dogs 

 or by the use of decoys, but a col- 

 lector is bound to find out that many 

 species which he wishes for his needs 

 cannot be procured thus easily and the 

 number of specimens which he gets 



