TO PRESERVE BIRDS. 237 



days ago, a woodcock flew up the lawn, and dropped close before 

 Longparish House, in Hampshire ; and was shot from the window, ' 

 by Captain Hawker, who, having been wounded in Spain, was 

 there confined to his room. What makes the circumstance more 

 remarkable is, that it happened in a country where it is very rare 

 to see three of these birds in a season ; and that a friend of his 

 had laid a bet, he would be well enough to shoot a cock before 

 the winter was over." 



TO PRESERVE AND CHOOSE BIRDS, 



&c. &c. 



To distinguish specifically the foregoing birds, I 

 refer my readers to Bewick ; presuming, as I have 

 repeatedly hinted, that no one, who has the least 

 interest in shooting, either as a sportsman or a na- 

 turalist, could willingly be without such a portable, 

 cheap, and yet such a very superior work. 



If you shoot a curious bird, and have not the means 

 of getting it stuffed while fresh, you may preserve the 

 skin of it for many months by putting therein dry 

 tow and powdered ginger. May and June are the 

 only months that you need fear the moth ; and just 

 then, cedar shavings, or camphor, would be a good 

 addition. To skin a bird, open him either on one 

 side, or down the back. 



I have, as proposed at the beginning, marked only 

 those of the broad-billed birds which are fit for the 

 table ; and this has been done as a caution against 

 the imposition of marketmen and poulterers, who, for 



