
34 SUGGESTIONS AND DIRECTIONS FOR FIELD-WORK. 
with all small birds, by suffocation. The respiration and cir- 
culation of birds is very active, and most of them die in a few- 
moments if the lungs are so compressed that they cannot 
breathe. Squeeze the bird tightly across the chest, under the 
wings, thumb on one side, middle finger on the other, forefin- 
ger pressed in the hollow at the root of the neck, between the 
forks of the merrythought. Press firmly, hard enough to fix 
the chest immovably and compress the lungs, but not to break 
in theribs. The bird will make vigorous but ineffectual efforts 
to breathe, when the muscles will contract spasmodically ; but 
in a moment more, the system relaxes with a painful shiver, 
light fades from the eyes, and the lids close. I assure you, it 
will make you wince the first few times; you had better habit- 
ually hold the poor creature behind you. You can tell by its 
limp feel and motionlessness when it is dead, without watching 
the sad struggle. Large birds obviously cannot be dealt with 
in this way; I would as soon attempt to throttle a dog asa 
loon, for instance, upon which ali the pressure you can give 
makes no sensible impression. A winged hawk, again, will 
throw itself on its back as you come up, and show such good 
fight with beak and talons, that you may be quite severely 
scratched in the encounter; meanwhile, the struggling bird 
may be bespattering its plumage with blood. In such a case 
—in any case of a large bird making decided resistance —I 
think it best to step back a few paces and settle the matter 
with a light charge of mustard-seed. Any large bird once 
secured may be speedily dispatched by stabbing to the heart 
with some slender instrument thrust in under the wing —care 
must be taken too about the bleeding; or, it may be instantly 
killed by piercing the brain with a knife introduced into the 
mouth and drawn upward and obliquely backward from the 
palate. The latter method is preferable, as it leaves no out- 
ward sign, and causes no bleeding to speak of. With your 

thumb, you may indent the back part of a bird’s skull so as to ~ 
compress the cerebellum; if you can get deep enough in, with- 
out materially disordering the plumage, or breaking the skin, 
the method is unobjectionable. 


