[7] COLLECTING EEPTILES AND BATRACHIANS STEJNEGEE. 



Most of the reptiles, on the other hand, love the light aud the heat 

 of the sun, and usually no locality furnishes more species and speci- 

 mens than the hot aud sandy desert or the sun-baked rocks on the 

 southern slopes of a mountainous country, though in the tropics the 

 dense forests abound with their own particular species. The aquatic rep. 

 tiles, chiefly suakes, will have to be looked for in their own element. A 

 number of reptiles are more or less nocturnal in their habits, for in- 

 stance many of the poisonous snakes, and these may often be gathered 

 in numbers on warm moonlight nights. A fiife or lantern may then be 

 used to advantage. They are also often found after a mild thunder 

 shower, as are likewise many of the inoffensive, particularly the bur- 

 rowing species. 



The latter are usually the most interesting as well as the rarest 

 species in collections. Special care should therefore be taken to obtain 

 as many of them as possible, aud the collector should always be on the 

 lookout whenever any digging of ditches or plowing of ground goes 

 on in his neighborhood. 



In very warm and dry climates the best time for collecting reptiles is 

 just after the first summer rain. 



SBCUKmG SPECIMENS. 



A good many reptiles and batrachiaus are easily enough secured by 

 simply i)icking them up with the hand. A quick grab with five or ten 

 fingers, as the case may be, will bring many others in the collector's 

 power, though sometimes he will find himself the possessor of only the 

 wriggling tail, while the rest and more important portion of the lizard 

 scampers away and disappears in the nearest crevice. But other ani- 

 mals are either too quick in their movements, or they are too shy, or 

 they live among the thorny cactus, or in the water, and for these other 

 means of capture are to be devised. 



The latter have either to be caught with line and hook, baited with raw 

 meat, as certain turtles, or with a dip-net ; but as to the others I know 

 of no better way to secure them than to shoot them with the .32 or .22 

 caliber auxiliary barrel or collecting pistol, or to catch them with a 

 slip-noose. 



As to the arms mentioned I refer to what Mr. E. Eidgway has said 

 in the Directions for Collecting Birds, with the only addition that for 

 shooting reptiles I would not advise the use of '' wood " powder. I am 

 not thoroughly satisfied that this powder is reliable under all circum- 

 stances, and the greater noise of the black powder is of no consequence 

 in this kind of collecting. The latter foals the gun more, but the 

 auxiliary barrel is so easily cleaned that but little is gained by using 

 "wood" powder. 



Specimens are often badly mutilated by shooting, but more specimens 

 are so easily obtained in this than in any other way, and the collector 

 can therefore make his selection for preservation from a greater num- 

 ber of specimens. 



