THE ART OF COLLECTING BIRDS. 9 



charge by the bushes catching the trigger or hammer. 

 Never allow the muzzle of the gun to point at any one, 

 even for an instant. All these things depend upon habit, 

 and will cause a thoughtful man, who has handled a gun for 

 a long time, to be much more careful than a person who 

 seldom takes one in his hands. The thoughtful man 

 prefers rather to avoid accidents to himself and others — 

 by care in advance — than to risk the chance of having to 

 mourn his carelessness afterwards. The various devices for 

 snaring birds are undoubtedly the best ways to secure them 

 without injuring their plumage. But the collector will 

 have to rely mainly upon his gun ; and by following the 

 above instruction regarding the light charges, he will find 

 that he will generally kill a bird without injuring its 

 plumage seriously. If he carefully attends to it afterward 

 in the way described, he will save himself much trouble 

 when he wishes to preserve it. 



In an old French cook-book may be found a receipt for a 

 rabbit-stew T , commencing with, " First, catch your rabbit," 

 etc., — w T hich rule is applicable to the collector. First, study 

 with attention the art of collecting. Many and long have 

 been the lessons in collecting that I have taken in long tramps 

 through sunshine and storm, in the bracing air among the 

 mountains of Northern Maine and New Hampshire, on 

 sandy islands and rocky shores, amid the luxuriant forests 

 and along the rivers and lagoons of semi-tropical Florida. 

 Hours of danger and perplexity have been mingled with 

 days of inexpressible pleasure, w T hich all must experience 

 who study from the Great Book of Nature. Not easily, 

 then, I may add, have I learned what I am trying to im- 

 part to others in these pages. 



Since writing the preceding, I have been informed by 

 my friend, Mr. W. Brewster, of Cambridge, that in collect- 

 ing such small birds as the Warblers, Sparrows, Wrens, etc., 

 he has used a " blow-gun" to great advantage, constructed 

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