PEE PARING AND STEPPING ANIMALS. 
have found by experience that it is best to let it lie until , 
the blood round the wound has coagulated, and then, carefully 
pulling the surrounding feathers on one side, I remove it with 
a penknife, put a little cotton-wool into the wound and also into 
the mouth. After this I smooth down the feathers, wrap it 
carefully in a sheet of soft paper, and place it in one of the 
pockets of my knapsack, while I pursue my sport. 
I am quite aware that some fowlers prefer the smaller dust- 
shot ; and for some of our more delicate birds, as the golden- 
crested wren, the bottle -tit, and some others even in our own 
country, and the humming-birds of the tropics, I believe that 
the concussion of the powder and wadding is enough to bring 
them down. But I think less damage arises from ISTo. 8 than 
even the smaller shot, inasmuch as the latter is thrown in a 
denser mass against the bird, and does infinitely more damage j 
to the plumage. 
Having provided himself with the necessary appliances of 
his intended sport, the young naturalist has next to consider 
the character of the object of his pursuit. All animals have 
their assigned place in creation. Some are only to be found 
in the corn-fields ; others haunt the woods ; while others again 
abound in rocky and mountainous districts, on the sea-shore, 
or on the river’s bank ; and he who has set his mind on any par- 
ticular object must acquaint himself with the locality which it 
affects most. It is equally indispensable to know the best season 
for its capture or destruction ; that is, the season when its fur 
or plumage is brightest, or when the skin is in the most proper 
state for preservation. Hor is it unimportant, in anticipation 
of a successful search, to know the hour of the day at which it is j 
abroad. It has been attempted to construct a floral time-piece ; j 
another might be constructed of greater exactness, calculated J 
upon the basis of the regularity with which animals pursue 
their avocations : some creatures are only abroad at noon-day ; 
others, like the lark, are abroad with the dawn. At night the 
nightingale becomes the most promin ent songster of the grove : — 
“ An April night 
Would be too short for him to utter forth 
His love-chant, and disburden his full soul 
Of all its music ! " 
Accordingly it is pretty well established that the nightingale, 
if it does not sing all night, sings late in the summer even- 
ing and early in the dawn. Farther on in the night the owl is 
