24 S 
ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 
materially to one of the great objects by which ornitho- 
logy is to be advanced; namely, the augmentation if 
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, "iFhat birds are worth collecting? 
The general answer to which, if such was sufficient, 
would be, Ttie ' 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 
obvious. 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, conseijuently, 
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 Ouidc for collecting and preserving Subjects of Na- 
tural History and Botany. By William Swainson. Second edition. Bald, 
■wm and Cnidock, 1833. 
