a oa 

PROCURING SUBJECTS. 
case, three feet high, a foot and a half wide, and a foot deep, 
the four top drawers two inches deep, with twenty-seven divi- 
sions for eggs, the fifth drawer three inches deep, with forty- 
five divisions, the bottom drawer four and a half inches deep, 
with six divisions: in all making nine drawers. A small piece 
of wadding should be put into each compartment, to keep the 
eggs from contact with the wood, and cracking. I have already 
said that winter is a good season for procuring birds in fine 
plumage. 
On the approach of winter those birds that remain the whole 
year with us assume their thick wintry garb ; but except in very 
severe weather most animals are difficult to discover at this 
season. The animals which hybernate have now sought refuge 
in their holes; the mice and reptiles are concealed in the bosom 
of the rocks and crevices of walls; nature has sealed up in her 
frozen caves the fish and other inhabitants of the deep. The 
season of love, therefore, is the most favourable one for the 
naturalist, as the moulting season is the worst. The sexes 
have then assumed the nuptial robe. They are more easily 
approached at that season also; there is, therefore, reasonable 
hopes of a successful expedition. 
With the exception of the hare, fox, and rabbit, there are 
hardly any of the mammiferz of this country on which it is 
necessary to hunt with the gun; and to shoot a fox is, in most 
English counties, a high crime against the social laws. But 
if Reynard is wanted he must be found. His den is in hilly 
countries crowned with copse wood, over the bank of some 
stream or under a bank of furze, and, ten to one, if there is a 
retired hen-roost within a reasonable distance of it, he will not 
require to be sought, but may be met prowling about it half 
way, at carly dawn; in this case he is fair game, at least to 
the naturalist who wants a specimen! We need hardly tell 
where a hare or rabbit is to be found; im acorn or turnip field, 
or in young plantations and grass meadows, they will be found 
gambolling about at early dawn, from September to March, after 
which they are sacred till the season rolls round again. Mice, 
rats, weasels, and other mammifere, may be taken in traps, or 
destroyed in many ways when found. Some of them, however, 
as the weasel, are difficult to find when wanted. It is generally 
during the night or evening such creatures venture abroad. 
There are a few precautions to be taken with skins of ani- 
mals. To prevent damage to the fur large shot is used, as we 
have seen. Spots of blood may be washed from the fur either 
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