﻿MODE OF CAPTURE. PRESERVATION. 263 



original cost, setting aside the expenses of freight, &c. 

 We have made it a practice, however, with such of our 

 foreign correspondents who contribute specimens to our 

 museum, to give the best advice we can on these occa- 

 sionSj considering it as the only return we can make for 

 their voluntary donations, but we recommend no one to 

 make pecuniary speculations in subjects of natural his- 

 tory, under the idea that the prices to be obtained will 

 repay them for the cost or trouble of their original ac- 

 quisition. 



(218.) We now proceed to the practical part of our 

 subject, commencing with the most simple, and pro- 

 ceeding to the more perfect methods of procuring and 

 preserving birds. Those persons who have neither skill 

 or time to shoot or preserve, may procure the small 

 birds of any country from an ordinary sportsman, and 

 put them at once into wide-mouthed bottles or jars, 

 filled with weak spirits, in which state, after being well 

 corked and rosined, they may be transmitted to Eng- 

 land. This easy method will do very well among the 

 generally indolent West Indians, where poor rum may 

 be had almost for nothing, and pickle jars, originally 

 from England, may be returned refilled. Those who 

 could afford the time might attach a bit of stick, 

 marked with notches, to such specimens, regarding 

 which they are desirous to give, or receive, information. 

 The most common species may be put up in this way, 

 which is always the best where the internal structure is 

 the chief object for subsequent investigation. 



(219.) The ornithological sportsman, who intends 

 preserving his game, should carry in his bag a small 

 quantity of cotton or tow to put in the mouths, or over 

 the bleeding wounds of each specimen as it is killed, to 

 prevent one soiling the other ; or those who are very 

 particular may wrap each in a piece of paper. The 

 best time for shooting, in all countries, is very early in 

 the morning, when the notes of the different species 

 are heard, and the best season, when there is a choice, 

 is that which precedes the breeding, or the time of 

 s 4 



