6 INSTRUCTIONS FOR COLLECTORS 



2. TAKING SPECIMENS IN THE FIELD 



Permits 



Legislation varies considerably from one country to another, but permis- 

 sion and licences are usually required for the following : 



1. Permission to collect specimens — obtained from the appropriate 

 government. Such a permit may include stipulations as to the number of 

 specimens to be taken, or forbid the collecting of certain species. 



2. The appropriate gun licence or fire-arm certificate for each weapon. 

 In this respect it should be remembered that any gun with a rifled barrel, 

 even if it is only the -22 barrel of a combination collecting gun, is usually 

 classed as a rifle and not a shotgun, and comes under more stringent regula- 

 tions. It is especially liable to import and export restrictions. Collecting 

 pistols, classed as short-barrelled shotguns, are also subject to stringent 

 control. 



3. Permission to collect — obtained from the owner of the property on 

 which the specimens are taken. 



4. Permission to export the collection (where appropriate). The granting 

 of an initial collecting permit does not imply that the material may be 

 exported, and the customs regulations should be ascertained when the 

 collecting permit is obtained. 



Equipment 



(a). List. The following is a list of the basic equipment likely to be 

 needed when collecting birds in the field. 



Fieldglasses. 



Gun. 



Ammunition (preferably in a cartridge belt). 



Haversack or rucksack. 



Note-book or wallet of field-slips. 



Tags or labels. (See section on "noting data".) 



Pencil (and penknife) or waterproof pen. 



Cotton wool. 



Plastic bottle or tin with dusting powder. 



Paper cones or wrapping material. 

 Additional equipment might include some form of humane killer (see 

 below — killing wounded birds), and a small camera. 



(b). Notes on equipment 



Fieldglasses. These should be lightweight, with central focussing screw, 

 and carried so that they do not obstruct the firing of the gun. A magnifica- 

 tion of x 6 to x 9 is convenient for this purpose. A pamphlet on fieldglasses 

 for use in bird study is published by the British Trust for Ornithology 

 (Appendix 2). 



Guns. A -410 shotgun is a convenient light weapon suitable for collecting 

 a wide range of birds. With small birds in thick vegetation a -22 shotgun is 

 useful, and the collector may prefer a combination of -410 and smooth- 

 bored -22 barrels. For greater distances and larger birds a 12 bore is to be 



