Hhc fjounij |Iaturalist: 



A Penny Weekly Magazine of Natural History. 



No. 22. MARCH 27th, 1880. Vol. 1. 



"PRACTICAL TAXIDERMY." 



PROCURING SPECIMENS. 



THE most expeditious way of ob- 

 taining birds for stuffing is, of 

 course, to shoot them, and not long ago 

 this was very easily accomplished, but 

 now every person who carries a gun 

 must have a license for that purpose, 

 and, as the license costs ten shillings, 

 it will be rather too expensive for the 

 beginner, who only wants one or two 

 Sparrows, or something of that sort to 

 practise upon, so we must find some 

 other method of obtaining them. There 

 is also another word of caution which 

 we would give to the amateur, that 

 according to law he must not kill 

 certain birds during the breeding season. 

 It is all right enough to " protect" 

 those birds which are of service to 

 mankind generally, but Ave think that 

 there are many birds included in this 

 Act for which the gun license ought 

 to have been a sufficient protection. 

 Besides there are now many birds 

 which cannot be obtained in certain 

 states of plumage, and a man who in 

 the interests of science wants a bird in 

 a certain state of plumage ought to be 



allowed to get it quite as much as the 

 gamekeepers are allowed to kill " pro- 

 tected" owls and other birds upon 

 enclosed estates, 



If you can get some friend who has 

 a gun license to shoot you a few birds 

 bo much the better, if you cannot some 

 one or other of the various modes of 

 trapping must be resorted to, and in 

 Mr. Browne's book will be found a 

 lonrr chapter, giving every kind of trap 

 that will be likely to be of service in 

 capturing birds and animals. One of 

 the simplest is the ordinary brick trap, 

 which every schoolboy knows how to 

 set. Another useful means of capture 

 is the horsehair noose, snare or 

 " snittle." This is most effectual in 

 winter time when the birds are easily 

 tempted by bait. This kind of snare is 

 used very extensively on various parts 

 of our coast by men who make a great 

 part of their living during the winter 

 time by capturing shore birds, and 

 many thousands are sent yearly to the 

 markets caught in these snares or 

 "panties," as these men call them; we 

 have heard one man on the Lancashire 

 coast say that he has taken out forty 

 dozen larks on one morning. When 



