Chapter I. 
INTRODUCTION. 
This little handbook is expressly intended to serve 
as guide for the amateur bird collector, desirous of 
preserving and mounting his own specimens. 
In these days of ultra-civilization, when it has be-— 
come the fashion in some quarters to scoff at the idea 
of bird-collecting, a book on bird-preserving will 
not unlikely be received with some misgiving; and 
if any apology is needed for the appearance of the 
present volume, let it be that in spite of the abuse 
that has been showered upon the bird collector in 
recent years, he still flourishes in most parts of the 
country, and moreover, is likely to continue so long 
as the sporting elements inherent in every healthy 
British boy endure; for after all, it is, as Mr. E. C. 
Arnold has remarked, out of the schoolboy and his 
catapult in most instances that the great naturalist 
is eventually evolved. Happily for Britain, the old 
sporting spirit, which has done so much to estab- 
lish the race in its present position amongst the 
nations of the earth is still strong at home, and 
shows no signs of abating. 
Looked at from any angle, the wholesale slaughter 
of birds must be condemned by every thoughtful 
man, and all good sportsmen involuntarily recoil in 
disgust from a record of butchery, miscalled sport. 
