14 
THE COLLECTOR'S OUTFIT 
distance from one’s subject. We are not Out merely to get birds’ pic- 
tures, but to record their habits with a camera, and the nearer we can 
get to the bird without disturbing it, the better we can accomplish 
our object. 
The Collector’s Outfit . — Individual preference will always play a 
part in the selection of a gun. My own choice for general collecting 
is a 16-bore equipped with a 0.32 auxiliary barrel. In general collecting 
in a more or less wooded region, fully 80 per cent of your shots will be 
fired from the auxiliary — or ‘aux’ as it is commonly termed-— while 
there will be but few occasions in the remaining 20 per cent when the 
16-bore, if properly held (!) will permit a specimen to escape. 
Crude but effective auxiliary barrels may be made with a 16- 
gauge brass shell and a brass tube about ten inches long and having an 
opening the diameter of a 0.32 Ideal shell. Enlarge the cap-opening of 
the 16-gauge shell until it will exactly receive the brass tube; stand 
the shell on a level surface squarely on its base, place the tube upright 
in it with its end in the enlarged cap-hole and flush with the base of 
the shell; now, using extreme care to have the tube exactly in the 
center of the shell, fill the shell about the sides of the tube with molten 
lead. When it has cooled, counter-sink a shoulder in the base of the 
tube of sufficient size and depth to receive the rim of the 0.32 shell, 
file a narrow slot to enable one to remove with an awl or properly 
sharpened nail the exploded shell, and your ‘aux’ is made. 
A gunsmith could do a better job and give you a barrel with an 
extractor which will work automatically with that of your gun, and 
such barrels may sometimes be purchased from natural history dealers; 
but the one I have described can be made by any one and will answer 
every purpose. In any event, test your ‘aux’ thoroughly until you 
have learned its range and what load will give the best pattern and 
penetration. I use about three-fifths fine smokeless powder with a card- 
board and felt or leather wad, and two-fifths shot with a cardboard 
wad. In loading a large number of shells for a prolonged collecting 
trip, the wad over the shot may be dipped lightly in liquid paraffine, 
which, in hardening, will tend to keep the wad from slipping. 
Since the ‘aux’ is used almost exclusively for birds no larger than a 
Blue Jay, the shells for it should be loaded with No. 12 shot. For the 
16-bore, one should carry variously loaded shells, as the nature of the 
collecting directs. 
A hunting-coat with large pockets, a fisherman’s creel, or a game- 
bag, for carrying specimens, a bottle of corn-meal for cleaning them, 
non-absorbent cotton for ‘plugging’ them, stiff paper for wrapping them, 
and a mixture of equal parts powdered alum and arsenic for preserving 
them, are all part of the collector’s outfit. 
The bird skinner’s outfit, in its simplest form, consists of one or 
more scalpels having blades with well-rounded ends, and one, at least, 
with a handle small enough to be used as a spoon in removing brains; 
three pairs of scissors, one with short, heavy blades for bone-crushing, 
