﻿9A<8 ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 



materially to one of the great objects by which ornitho- 

 logy is to be advanced ; namely, the augmentation c f 

 specimens to our museums, by instructing those who 

 are abroad in the most simple methods of preserving the 

 birds found in the various regions in which so many cf 

 our intelligent countrymen are now, permanently or 

 temporarily, located. Our remarks, from necessity, cannot 

 be much extended, but the young naturalist or traveller 

 will find fuller details on this subject in a little book 

 expressly written for amateurs.* 



(209.) The first question which appears most natural 

 to be asked is this, What birds are worth collecting ? 

 The general answer to which, if such was sufficient, 

 would be, The most common. We speak not now, 

 or hereafter, of British birds, except in as far as the in- 

 structions and hints subsequently offered are applicable 

 to them as well as to all others. But it is an extraordinary 

 fact that, with few exceptions, the most common and 

 plain coloured birds of foreign countries are precisely 

 those of which we know the least, and of which speci- 

 mens are rarely seen in our collections. The reason is 

 obvicu>. Amateur naturalists, or mere collectors, gene- 

 rally are led away with the belief, that because a bird is 

 so common — we will say in Jamaica — that it may be 

 procured every day in the next field or wood, — it is there- 

 fore common in the collections here, and, consequently, 

 not worth the trouble of preserving and sending home. 

 Even professed naturalists and others who go abroad for 

 the express purpose of collecting, contribute to produce 

 the same effect. They find so many objects to engage 

 their attention, that such as are within their daily reach 

 are neglected until a season of more leisure. They think, 

 as common birds can always be procured, they should 

 first search after the scarce ones, and thus they very 

 often leave the country without those species which 

 might have been shot at every hour of the day. Several 



* The Naturalist's Guide for collecting and preserving Subjects of Na- 

 tural History and Botany. By William Svvainson. Second edition. Bald- 

 win and Cradock, 1835. 



