April, 1885.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



59 



good shooting grounds are reached. You draw 

 your cartridges from the pocliets, a No. 10 from 

 the left coat pocliet, and a dust from tlie right, 

 while you make sure that the sixes are in your 

 pant's pocket, so that you can change at a mo- 

 ment's notice if you see a hawk. Warblers are 

 numerous and you shoot several specimens, always 

 being vf ry careful to sprinkle the bloody portions 

 with plaster of paris from the salt box which you 

 took from the dining table at home, and filled the 

 night before. It works admirably and you won- 

 der you did not think of the plan before. You 

 then stuff each throat with cotton, being careful 

 to force the ])ledget thoroughly within the throat, 

 and not leaving any fibres hanging out, as that 

 would allow blood to stain the breast feathers. 

 Tiie birds are all i)laced carefully in cones of paper 

 from 8 to 12 inches long, head downwards, in 

 wliich position they will not ruffle, and the speci- 

 mens I'Cing packed away in the collecting box, 

 you move on. Let me say one word in regard to 

 general collecting. You may be a most enthusias- 

 tic Ornithologist, with a wish to devote all of your 

 lime to the studying of birds and the collecting of 

 skins and eggs, but we would suggest that in your 

 trips you also take notes in the other depart- 

 ments of Natural History. In a short time you 

 can familiarize yourself with the reptiles, mam- 

 mals, insects and plants as well as be adding valu- 

 able notes and specimens to book and cabinet. 

 Never pass a rare turtle, snake, insect or plant, 

 without making an effort at preservation and iden- 

 tification. No one can afl'ord to be in the woods 

 witliout a note book, if he ever expect to become 

 a ihoi'ougli field naturalist. After a year's effort 

 at lliis kind of work, you could not be hired to 

 omit noting the arrivals, remarks on habits, &c., 

 izc. Amateurs are too liable to rush into collect- 

 ing with a zeal which is quickly quenched as the 

 season advances, and there are no specimens to 

 add to the cabinet. Tliousands of foolish boys 

 slash into the birds and eggs for a season, intent 

 only on securing all they can, and desirous of out- 

 shining some companions in the nefarious busi- 

 ness. At the end of the season the eggs, a 

 cracked, unlabled lot, are lumped off to some itin- 

 erant dealer in curiosities, or sold to some young- 

 er boy .still interested, while the birds' skins are 

 laid away to be devoured by mice and moths, or 

 thrown into the fire by an over particular 

 mamma. Such boys never make Ornithologists, 

 or even true lovers of the study. The class is 

 however a large one. I wish there were fewer of 

 them. I would like a law enacted which would 

 ]irovide for the imi)risonment of all such boys. 

 I was a boy myself, but a skin, egg or insect was 

 as sacred to me as the awards of merit I received 



at school. There is but little chance of succeed- 

 ing in becoming a capable woodsman familiar 

 with the creatures of field and forest, or the pos- 

 sessor of a good cabinet of specimens, unless the 

 work is persevered in from year to year. Those 

 who have not the real love of nature in their 

 hearts, and who only collect because of the pros- 

 pect of gain, or with a view of excelling some 

 friend, had better stop collecting at once and devote 

 their wasted energies to other channels. In case 

 you are out for day's trip, your birds will usually 

 keep iricely until you can reach home, where you 

 at once place those you do not intend to skin at 

 the time, in an ice chest from which you can take 

 them from time to time as required. Don't shoot 

 more birds than you want. If it is your first 

 year, five birds are enough for you. If you>are a 

 rapid skinner, shoot 10 to 30 if the weather is 

 warm, and you have a cool place to keej) them. 

 If you go out but a few limes a year, and wish to 

 make the most of your trip, 30 to 50 birds may be 

 shot if the weather is cool and you are a good skin- 

 ner. I find that 10 to 15 birds are all I can attend 

 to after a day's trip, and all of these are larely 

 finished until the next evening. In case of shoot- 

 ing a large number of birds sit up nights, all 

 night, to finish them, but don't let any spoil. It 

 is a crime to shoot birds and let them spoil. 

 Sometimes the weather is so warm that birds will 

 spoil in a few hours, and long before the collector 

 reaches home. In extreme weather, I frequently 

 disembowel some of the first specimens shot in a 

 day's collecting, and fill the cavity with dry cotton 

 containing a few drops of carbolic acid. When 

 on a two or three day's trip, the birds may be 

 skinned each night, the preservative applied and 

 the skins laid away nearly flat until you reach 

 home, when you must at once arrange the 

 feathers, and if the skin has become too hard, they 

 must be treated to a sand bath to soften them. 

 Blow j'our eggs in the woods, many collectors, I 

 think the large majority, blow their eggs after 

 reaching home. Don't do it unless the eggs con- 

 tain large embryos which will occupy too much 

 of your limited time in the woods. You can 

 pack them in a much smaller space than those 

 with the contents in, as they do not require so 

 much cotton and are much less liable to break. 

 Always wash out the eggs with fresh water, and 

 afterwards drop in a few drops of " Fowler's So- 

 lution" which contains enough arsenic to poison 

 the egg. It may be bought at the drug store. 



After Yon Get Home.— Unpack all of your 

 specimens at once. If you have not numbered 

 your eggs do so at once, so the sets will not get 

 mixed. Place the number to the right and a little 

 below the hole, with the small end of the egg at your 



