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off blood stains, but acetone, or a mixture of acetone and carbon tetrachlo- 
ride is better. A small bottle of this carried in the pocket while collecting 
will be a great help. The bird collector should carry a pair of fine-pointed 
forceps in his pocket or game bag, the tips shielded by sticking into a small 
cork. A pin or bit of wire will do for probing in an emergency. If there 
are any visible shot-holes, they may be plugged with a bit of cotton, and 
fine cornmeal, whiting, sawdust, or dry dust sprinkled around the sur- 
rounding feathers. Shove a large plug of cotton into the mouth and throat 
to keep blood and digestive fluids from running out. If blood oozes from 
the nostrils place a strip of cotton over them and across the forehead, 
stuffing the ends on each side into the throat, and plugging them with 
another wad in the throat. Avoid plugging soft nostrils as the form may 
be changed. If either of the eyeballs has been punctured by a shot, shown 
by water running out or by deflated appearance, insert the point of forceps 
and pluck the eyeball out, sticking in a wad of cotton to take its place. 
If a broken eyeball is not removed, the sticky liquids are sure to run out 
on the feathers of the head and neck, and nothing is harder to clean off. 
In very hot climates, where small birds may decompose and lose 
feathers on the throat and abdomen in a few hours, it is well to carry a 
hypodermic syringe and inject a preservative into the throat and abdomen. 
Weak formalin (1 part to 25 of water), or a saturated solution of alum, 
or a weak carbolic acid solution may be used. The abdomen is injected 
through the vent, and the throat has a little of the solution squirted into the 
gullet. 
A single specimen may be carried home by the bill or feet. The best 
method is to make a funnel or cornucopia of fairly stiff paper, such as the 
glazed or sized paper used in some of the larger magazines. A few loose 
sheets may be carried and rolled and pinned as needed, but the writer has 
found it more convenient to roll a few funnels of different sizes and paste 
them to retain proper size and shape. The different sizes may be telescoped 
and carried in the bag, and may be used again and again. They retain 
the specimen in better shape than extemporized wrapping. After cleaning 
and plugging the bird, drop it head foremost into the paper funnel, and 
fold the edges in, securing the edges by a pin if necessary. The specimens 
may then be placed in a basket or other receptacle in which they will not 
be squeezed or the tails mussed. If wing or tail feathers are broken, they 
are almost impossible to repair, but if only bent or twisted they will 
straighten immediately when held in a jet of steam from a kettle. The 
ordinary hunting coat pocket is not very good for carrying bird speci- 
mens, as they are apt to be shaken up or smashed in the excitement of 
hunting. A stiff haversack, or best of all, a fishermen’s basket creel, is 
very useful, and may be readily slipped off when necessary. 
Measuring Fresh Birds 
The old collectors were accustomed to take three or four measurements': 
length (from tip of bill to end of longest tail feather) ; wing (in straight 
line from bend of closed wing to tip of longest primary quill) ; tail (length 
of longest tail feathers, measured from the bony base of the tail) ; and bill 
(length of culmen; tip of bill from edge of frontal feathers to tip of 
upper mandible). As all of these measurements, except the total length, 
