264 
ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 
pairing; birds are then in their finest plumage, and one 
pod specimen, in its perfect plumage, is worth a dozen 
m 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 shaU here recom. 
mend a method of shooting particularly desirable in hot 
climates, a. d frequently much more productive of game 
than any other. This is to watch when the diflTerent 
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, 
shelteml 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 p^sioptely fond of figs. We have often killed 
the black-headed flycatcher {Mmcicapa atricamlla 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 di^fferent 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 chalk, with cotton, wool, or tow, and a preserv- 
