The Journal of a Sporting Nomad 



bottles, nets, boxes, and the rest, and I shall 

 never forget the first batch of specimens they 

 brought me a collection of broken wings, 

 absolutely useless ! 



I had no appliances for setting insects, so 

 simply folded them gently together in a V-shaped 

 envelope in order to protect their plumage, and 

 soon had quite a nice lot of gorgeous butterflies 

 and moths. The small red ants that swarm 

 over and devour everything were my chief 

 enemies, and I had to keep all my treasures in 

 hermetically sealed cases in order to save them. 

 These ants, on discovering anything edible, 

 seemed to convey the news to each other, and 

 in next to no time a constant stream of them 

 passed to and fro from their nest to the object 

 and back again. 



One might fondly imagine oneself the proud 

 possessor of some rare bird skin or moth, only 

 to find, when next it was looked at, a little heap 

 of feathers, or some particles of dust. 



I soon had a box crammed full of fine speci- 

 mens, and sent them off to Mr. J. E. Harting, 

 in England, who had promised to have" them set 

 up and given to the Natural History Museum. 

 Unfortunately, the first consignment never 

 arrived. I sent them via Fernando Po, Came- 

 roons, by a German steamer, and though the 

 parcel may have reached Europe, I heard no 

 more of it. I had better luck next time, when a 



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