40 DIFFICULTIES OF BIRD STUDY. 



mirers will be vastly increased — should take to 

 slaughtering them, wliat a war of extermination it 

 would be ! With Audubon and Wilson it was dif- 

 ferent, as it is with those taxidermists who furnish 

 mounted specimens for museums of natural history ; 

 but for every student to turn into a butcher would 

 be wanton and wicked. One day I got a friend, 

 who is rather expert with the gun, to accompany 

 me in a long ornithological jaunt, when, I am 

 ashamed to say, we killed several birds (and shot 

 at more !) concerning whose identity I had been 

 in doubt ; but it seemed so murderous, so bloody 

 a work, that I resolved never to do so again, if I 

 could be forgiven for that offense. Why, the birds 

 are among my dearest and most intimate friends ; 

 how can I be so hard-hearted as to rob them of 

 life ? So I advise that the money spent for guns 

 and cartridges be spent in visiting some good col- 

 lege, or a large city, where an extensive collection 

 of mounted birds may be studied at leisure. In 

 that way you will be able to clear up ornithologi- 

 cal points without resort to bloodshed. 



The explorer for birds will often be parched 

 with thirst, almost overcome with heat, pelted 

 with rain, stung by mosquitoes, pestered by gnats, 

 frightened by snakes, adorned with Spanish needles 



