THE ORNITHOLOGISTS’ AND OOLOGISTS’ SEMI-ANNUAL. 4 
PART SECOND. 
BRIEF INSTRUCTIONS FOR COLLECTING AND PRESERVING BIRDS. 
The tools necessary to put up a bird skin are neither numerous nor 
costly. A scalpel, scissors, two or three sizes of tweezers and a fish- 
hook with the barb broken off will suffice for all ordinary work—re- 
member that it’s not the tools but the one handling them that does 
the work. Cotton to fill out the skins with, corn meal or plaster to 
keep the feathers from being soiled, and arsenic to preserve the skins 
are essentials. Having the tools and supplies, the next thing neces- 
sary is the bird, and the collector will have to rely upon his gun to 
secure that. Ninety per ct. of the birds taken in routine collecting 
can be killed with dust-shot—larger shot generally mutilates a bird 
and it will make a sorry specimen. Experience will prove a better 
teacher than any written instructions and I will not attempt to give 
any, except to say that small birds can always be approached closely 
and it is not necessary to load heavily—“puff” loads, 1 call them, will 
do. My ordinary collecting load fills a 16 bore cartridge only about 
one-fourth full. A 16 bore gun is the right size for collecting. With 
cartridges properly loaded, such a gun will bring down anything from 
an eagle to a hummer. 
Having shot your bird, the first thing necessary is to stop up the 
mouth with a fluff of cotton; sometimes it is necessary to plug the 
nostrils and vent with the same material. This will prevent any blood 
or the juices of the body from soiling the feathers. A“‘gob” of blood 
can generally be removed with the knife-biade—a little experience 
will teach you the best way. Some collectors plug up the shot-holes, 
but I simply part the feathers and lay a fluff of cotton directly on the 
wound. This will absorb any blood that escapes. If the eyeball is 
broken, letting out the contents, stick the knife-blade into the eye, 
take the tweezers and by catching hold of the cut edge of the eyeball ; 
the entire eye can be torn from the socket, being careful not to allow 
any of the glairy fluid to get on the feathers. Dry out the socket 
with cotton, and insert a pellet of it to absorb any of the juices that 
may remain. If the nostrils are too small to plug up, a small roll of 
cotton laid across them and the ends tightly tucked into the mouth 
will prevent damage. Never try to wipe off blood from feathers— 
you can’t do it and will only make matters worse. Having stopped 
