128 HOW TO STALK WILD ANIMALS 



four kinds of wild creatures dealt with in our next 

 chapter can be consulted with what is hoped will 

 prove to be both pleasure and profit. 



It is essential that to become a successful 

 stalker of animals one should possess a good know- 

 ledge of the wild folk it is intended to stalk, and 

 such knowledge can only be acquired by years of 

 careful and painstaking observation. 



A real good plan to work upon is to make up 

 your mind to explore as far as possible the fauna 

 and flora of a given district. By this means you 

 will become fairly intimately acquainted with the 

 local animals and plants, and be enabled to pre- 

 pare a list that some day may prove of scientific 

 value. Let me illustrate my meaning. 



I remember a district in which I once resided 

 where lists were given to me of the whole of the 

 birds that were believed to nest or occur there, 

 regularly or occasionally. On looking over the 

 list I was struck with the fewness of the species 

 enumerated, knowing, from past experience else- 

 where, that the locality should be admirably suited 

 for the occurrence of a number of birds whose 

 names I failed to recognise upon the official 

 schedules presented to me. 



I at once set to work to observe the birds of the 

 district, keeping systematic and accurate data 

 concerning each new species that came under my 

 notice, with the result that in less than a year I 



