COMMON AND EAEE BIRDS. 29 



bers in places that knew them not before ; a single heavy 

 " invoice " of a bird from some distant or little-explored re- 

 gion may at once stock the market, and depreciate the current 

 value of the species to almost nothing, d. Some practical de- 

 ductions are to be made from these premises. Your object is 

 to make yourself acquainted with all the birds of your vi- 

 cinity, and to preserve a complete suite of specimens of every 

 species. Begin by shooting every bird you can, coupling this 

 sad destruction, however, with the closest observations upon 

 habits. You will very soon fill your series of a few kinds, that 

 you find almost everywhere, almost daily. Then if you are 

 in a region the ornithology of which is well known to the pro- 

 fession, at once stop killing these common birds — they are in 

 every collection. You should not, as a rule, destroy any more 

 robins, bluebirds, song-sparrows, and the like, than you want 

 for yourself. Keep an eye on them, studying them always, 

 but turn your actual pursuit into other channels, until in this 

 way, gradually eliminating the undesirables, you exhaust the 

 bird fauna as far as possible (you will not quite exhaust it — 

 at least for many years). But if you are in a new or little 

 known locality, I had almost said the very reverse course is the 

 best. The chances are that the most abundant and character- 

 istic birds are " rare " in collections. Many a bird's range is 

 quite restricted : you may happen to be just at its metropolis ; 

 seize the opportunity, and get good store — yes, up to fifty, 

 or a hundred; all you can spare will be thankfully received 

 by those who have none. Quite as likely, birds that are scarce 

 just where you happen to be, are so only because you are on 

 the edge of their habitat, and are plentiful in more accessible 

 regions. But, rare or not, it is always a point to determine the 

 exact geographical distribution of a species : and this is fixed 

 best by having specimens to tell each its own tale, from as 

 many different and widely separated localities as possible. 

 This alone warrants procuring one or more specimens in every 

 locality ; the commonest bird acquires a certain value if it be 

 captured away from its ordinary range. An Eastern Blue- 

 bird shot in California might be considered more valuable 



