CHAPTER III. 



COLLECTING vSPECIMENS IX GENERAL ; SEASONS ; FIELD EQUIP- 

 MENTS; CARE AND TREATMENT OF SPECIMENS. 



The rule is to secure your specimens wherever you encounter 

 them, whether it be at market or in the field. Obtain a typical male 

 and female of each species during the season when their fur or feathers 

 are at their best ; and if you have many specimens to select from do 

 not waste time in preparing an inferior example of a race. If the 

 species are rare, however, prepare all that are obtainable — good, bad 

 and indifferent — together with their skeletons. The young at different 

 ages are valuable studies, and should be collected whenever possible. 



Labeling, Sketching, Measurements, Etc. — Never collect a speci- 

 men without recording in a book and on a label the full measurements, 

 date of capture and the name of the locality in which it was taken, 

 and, if you are not ashamed of your work, put your own name on the 

 label. Adopt some system of measurements and use it in labeling 

 every specimen. It is one of the best habits you can form in prepar- 

 ing specimens in any branch of zoology. In their proper places I give 

 directions for measuring mammals and birds which are commonly used. 

 Note the color of the eyes, bill, feet, naked patches of skin or any soft 

 parts liable to fade or change in any way while the specimen is drying. 

 Take as your guide Ridgeway's Nomenclature of Colors^ published by 

 Little, Brown & Co., Boston, Mass. Best of all, paint the colors on 

 the spot with your water-color paints in the sketch you have made. 

 Do this in the case of any specimens you collect, be they reptiles, fish, 

 birds or mammals. To be able to make a good sketch of the whole, or 

 any portion of an animal, is an accomplishment of great value to the 

 collector. If you can not do this so that it will be intelligible to 

 others, by all means make a sketch that you can interpret yourself. 



When the plumage of birds is alike in male and female, the sex 

 may be determined by dissection 



One of the most valuable aids to the taxidermist is an exact out- 

 line of the dead specimen. Lay it out on a large sheet of manilla 

 paper before skinning it, arrange the legs in a natural walking atti- 

 1 56 ) 



