﻿264 ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 



pairing; birds are then in their finest plumage, and one 

 good specimen, in its perfect plumage, is worth a dozen 

 in a state of moulting. Small shot, and in small 

 quantities, will kill without much injury ; we never 

 used higher than shot No. 8., even for thrushes, while 

 dust shot is sufficient for humming-birds, and even 

 small finches, or warblers. These, and the other re- 

 quisites, including powder, had better be procured in 

 England. If the collector is settled in a country where 

 the peasantry are fond of shooting, a small premium 

 above the ordinary price of birds used for food, will 

 generally enlist one or two sportsmen into his service, 

 and in this manner rare birds may be often procured. 

 The South American Indians are admirable marksmen: 

 they shoot birds with the blow-pipe and with blunt 

 arrows, and specimens thus procured are generally free 

 from blood upon their feathers. We shall here recom- 

 mend a method of shooting particularly desirable in hot 

 climates, and frequently much more productive of game 

 than any other. This is to watch when the different 

 wild trees successively come into fruit, and then to lie 

 in wait for the birds which alight upon them to feed. 

 This should be practised very early in the morning, 

 and after the meridian heat is over : the sportsman, 

 sheltered by the surrounding brushwood, or under an 

 artificial hut made of boughs, may thus, without any 

 exertion, wait the arrival of the different species, and 

 single out such as he requires. This is the best method, 

 also, to secure the small birds of the south of Europe, 

 nearly all of which, although generally insectivorous, 

 are passionately fond of figs. We have often killed 

 the black-headed flycatcher (Muscicapa atricapilla L.) 

 in these situations. 



(220.) On proceeding to skin a bird, the following 

 instruments should be at hand, viz. two or three pen- 

 knives, of different sizes, a large and a small pair 

 of scissars, the latter pointed, a blunt stick, like the 

 handle of a camel's hair pencil, a pair of forceps, a 

 piece of chalky with cotton^ wool, or tow, and a preserv- 



