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Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbols — »> signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbols V signifie "FIN". r*?ps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at ^ ^te'tunt reduction ratios. Those too large to be ent^r'^tv iclu Jed In one exposure are filmed beginni. y in 'he upper left hand corner, left to right and top tc bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre film^s d des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul cliche il est filmd d partir de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 FIELD OENITHOLOGY. COMPniSIXG A lAIANUAL OF INSTRUCTION roB rROCURING, PREPARING AND PRESKRVING BIRDS AND A Check List of North Americaij Birds. BT Dr. ELLIOTT COUES, U.S.A. SALEM : NATURALISTS' AGENCY. Boston : ESTES & LAURIAT. New York : Dodd & Mead. 1874. PUINTED AT THE SAL KM TRESS. V. \V. I'UTNAM A CO., Proprlfl«n. Entered according to Act of Congiess, in the year 1874, by V. W. PUTNAM AND ELLIOTT COUES, In the Office of the Librarian of Congref^s at Washington. A-^T^ CONTENTS. PRELIMINARY AND EXPLANATORY 1 CiiAPTEu I. Implements FOB Coi.LKCTixo AND THEIR Use, . . 5 §1. The Douhle-bakrelled Shot Gun, 5.— J2. Breech Loader, 0.— §3. Other Weapons, etc., 7. — §1. Ammunition, 8. — §,5. Other Equipments. 10. — §0. Quaufications for Success, 12. — §7. To Carry a Gun, 12.— §8. To Clean a Gun, 13.— §!). To Load a Gun, 14.— §10. To Shoot, 10. Chapter II. Dogs, 19 §11. A Good Dog, IIow Useful. 19. Chapter III. Various Directions and Suggestions for Field Work, 21 §12. To BE A Good Collector, 21. — §13, U, 1,"), 10. Birds, llow. Where and When Sought, 21, 22, 25.— §17. How many of a Kind Wanted. AND Why, 27. — §18. What is a Good Day's Work? 30. —§10. Approaching Birds, 30.— §20. Kecoverino Birds. 33.— §21. Killing Wounded Birds, 33.— §22. Handling Bleeding Birds, 35.— §23. Carrying Birds Home Safe, 30.— §24. A Special Case, 37.— §25. Uygie:^ of Collectorsihp, 37. Chapter IV. Registration and Labelling, 44 §20, 27. Record of Oiiservations, 41.— §28. Ornithological Book- keeping, 45.— §29. Laiielling, 40.- §.'J0. Directions for Measure- MENT, 49. Chapter V. Ixstbumest.s, Materials and Fixtures for Preparing Birdskins, 52 §31. Instruments, ."52.— §32. Materials, 53.— §:w. Independent Par- agraph, 50.— §34. Fixtures, 50.— §35. Query, 57. (iil) ••?# IV CONTEXTS. Chapter VI. How to Make a Bihpskin, 68 A. The Hffjular I'rocem (§:ir.), SS— //. Sprrial Piocrssra; Coniplicntiom nm/ylcc«rfc»<»(§37), 70, — §:18. Sizk, 70.- §,!!>. SiiAi'i:, 73. — §10. Thin Skin; Loosk Pu.-maoe, 73.— §U. FATNK'*a. 7S— §12. IIi.ood-stains. ETC., 77. — §13, Mutilation, 7'J. — §41. DiccosirosiTioN, 80. — §i,5. Trow TO MOKNT Bll{l>8, 82. ClIAPTKU VII. Ml8CEI,/-ANEOt:8 TaIITICULAIIS §tO. Deteumination oi" Sex, 03.— §17. Repocmtion of Ar.E. 0».— §18. Examination of Stomach. ft"».— §19. IlKSTf)HATioN of Pooit Skin.s, 00.— §50. MCMMIFICATION, 97— §-|l. WET Pl{KrAnATIO>S, 07 — §.V2. 08TE0I.0GICAI- PllEPAnATIOXS, 08.- §.53. NEST.S AND EGGS, 100. CiiAPTEU VIII. Cake of a Collection, 554. Well PnKSERVEn Si'f.cimens. ion.— §.5."). Inskct Pe9t.<<, 100— §.v>. Cases foiiStoiiage ouTitANsroitTATioN, 107.— §.')7. Caihsets, 108. — §.'58. To Desthoy Bugs, 110.— §,'>9. Two Items, 111. Appendix, Additions and Coruections, 93 106 113 CHECK LIST. List of Birds of North America, 1 Extinct Spkcies, 119 Appendix, Additions and Corrections, 123 MANUAL OF INSTRUCTION, AND CHECK LIST OF THE BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA. PRELIMINARY AND EXPLANATORY. Both autlior and publisher of the "Key to North American Birds" intended that the worlc should contain instructions for collecting and preparing birds, and that a CniccK List, accord- ing with the author's views, should appear simultaneously with the volume. This proved impracticable : partly because the work so ftvr overran tiie original estimates, that the additional expense and risk, which the publisher, an accomplished natu- ralist, generously offered to assume, seemed to the author unjustifiable ; and partly because the writer's unexpected call to another field of official duty suddenly threw such a pressure of other engagements upon his hands that he could not just then find time to write out even so slight a treatise as this. The Check List and Manual of Ixstuuction are therefore now presented together, as a Supplement to the Key. The demand for a new Check List has become urgent. The last one published, and only one now in use, expresses a former state of American ornithology'. That great changes — presumably for the better — have lately been made, is shown by the fact that, in round numbers, fifty species have been MANUAL. Z EXPLANATORY. since nscertaincd to inliabit North America, while one hundred and nrty have been removed from the former list as being extrallmital, invalid or otherwise untenable. Of whatever part the author may have taken in remodelling the list, it would l)c obviously indelicate to speak. IJut he cannot refrain from alluding to the signal services of reform rendered 1)}' INIr. Allen, of Cambridge, whose stanch advocacy, under circum- stances that might have excused flinching, did so much to precipitate the changes, long while progressing and inevi- table, for which the time was at length at hand. Nor would this allusion be entirely just, did he not in the same connection refer to the thorough revision now making by Prof. Baird him- self, with the coiiperation of Dr. Brewer and Mr. Ridgway, the results of which are about to appear in what promises to be one of the greatest monuments ever erected to American ornithology. The notable concordance of the several writings in question, an agreement the more gratifying because a short time since it might have been considered impossible, marks an important period in the history of the science. The outlook promises well, when different premises load up to the same conclusions, and conflicting views are reconciled. The present Check List, prepared in strict accordance with the Key, reflects exactly whatever of truth or error that work represents. The typography and presswork render it susceptible of use in labelling a collection.* It shows mainly three points of disagreement with the current Smithsonian List. The number of genera is reduced though not to the extent that may be desirable. It is perhaps to be regretted, that so many needless and burdensome generic names, for which Bonaparte, Cabanis, Kaup and Reichenbach are largely re- *For Uiis purpose the List will be issued as a pnniphlet by itself as well as forming part of this litUc Tolumc. EXI'LANATORY. 8 sponsible, wore ndoptcd in Prof. Balrd's great work;* for, snmtioiicd by the usage of such cniluont authority, they have passed current, and are too closely Ingrained in our nomen- clature to bo soon eradicated. The writer feels at liberty to speak plainly, for his own skirts are not clear. Secondly, not a few species, new to North America, or to science, or both, have of late years been ascertained to inhabit this country. The third and principal variance between the present Ciikck List and its predecessor results from a large reduction of the number of admitted species. Tart of them are excluded sim- ply because extralimital ; but most l)ccausc tliey are considered untenable as species. In the present state of our knowledge, and under a system of nomenclature that is proven inadecjuate and may before long become o])solcte, recognition of numerous "Varieties" — resultant modifications of species by pliysical conditions of environment — is imperative ; and what are these varieties but the rills that flow into and help to swell the mighty stream of descent with modification? The Instructions for Collecting and Taxidermy, herewith offered, are drawn almost entirely from the writer's experience, acquired during several years lie has spent, with little interrup- tion, in the study of our birds. He has collected over a wide area from Labrador to California, in northwestern territories, and in several southern states ; enjoying opportunities for field investigations that no one with the least taste or aptitude for the pursuit could fail to profit by. In the matter of col- lecting, therefore, he may reasonably venture to speak with confidence. Since, furthermore, a taxidermal process that has been repeated several thousand times with fair results is by this simple circumstance proven satisfactory', he feels no difl3- ♦ " Birds of North America " by Bairil, Cassin aud Lawrence. 4 EXPLANATOUV. (lencc In presenting his method as a model to bo followed in the absence of a better one. The Instructions will, it is be- lieved, enable any one to become reasonably proficient in certain of the indispensable qualifications of a good working ornithol- ogist. He intends to take what may or may not be a liberty, and to presume that the reader is cntir(^ly inexperienced in field-work ; and ho begs the further privilege of waiving formality, that ho may bo allowed to address tho reader very familiarly, much as if chatting with a friend on a subject of mutual interest. Bcnrtlro's Mocking-thrufili, Ilarporhynchm Benilirei Couea. Sou Anioi'iuuaNuturulist for Juao, IST.t, vol. vii, p. 330. 1* ANUAL OF Tnstru CTION. CHAPTER I. IMPLEMENTS FOR COLLECTING, AND Til Kill USE. §1. The DOuuLK-HAituELLED SHOT GUN is 3'our mniu relianco. Under some circuinstuncoa yoti may trap or snare birds, catch them with bird-linio, or use otlier devices ; but such cases are exceptions to the rule that you will shoot birds, and lor this purpose no weapon compares with the one just mentioned. The soul of good advice respecting the selection of a gun, is, get the bed one you can afford to buy ; go the full length of your purse in the matters of material and workmanship. 'Jo say nothing of the prime requisite, safety, or of the next most desirable quality, efllciency, the durability of a high-priced gun makes it cheapest in the end. Style of finish is obviously of little consequence, except as an index of other qualities ; for inferior guns rarely, if ever, display the exquisite appoint- ments that mark a first-rate arm. There is really so little choice among good guns that nothing need be said on this score ; you cannot miss it if you pay enough to any reputable maker or reliable dealer. But collecting is a specialty, and some guns are better adapted than others to your particular purpose, which is the destruction, as a rule, of small birds, at moderate range, with the least possible injury to their plumage. Probably three-fourths or more of the birds of a miscellaneous collection average under the size of a pigeon, and were shot within thirty yards. A heavy gun is therefore unnecessary, in fact ineligible, the extra weight being useless. You will find a gun of 7J to 8 pounds weight most suitable. For similar (5) e: r I 6 IMPLEMENTS FOR COLLECTIXO, AND THEIR USE. reasons the bore should be small ; I prefer 14 gauge, and should not think of going over 12. To judge from the best sporting authorities, length of barrel is of less consequence than many suppose ; for myself, I incline to a rather long bar- rel — one nearer 33 than 28 inches — believing that such a barrel may throw shot closer ; but I am not sure that this is even the rule, while it is well known that several circumstances of loading, besides some almost inappreciable differences in barrels, will cause guns apparently exactly alike to throw shot differently. Length and crook of stock should of course be adapted to your figure — a gun may be made to fit you, as well as a coat. For wild-fowl shooting, and on some other special occasions, a heavier and altogether more powerful gun will be preferable. §2. BuEECir-LOAOKR V.9. muzzlc-loadcr, a case long argued, may be considered settled in favor of the former. Provided the mechanism and workmanship of the breech be what they should there are no valid objections to ofl'set obvious ad\an- tages, some of which are these : ease and rapidity of loading, and consequently delivery of shots in quick succession ; facil- ity of cleaning ; compactness and portability of ammunition ; readiness with which different sized shot may be used. This last is highly important to the collector, who neve- knows the moment he m&y wish to fire at a very different bird from such as he has already loaded for. The muzzle-loader must always contain the fine shot with which nine-tenths of your specimens will be secured ; if in both barrels, you cannot deal with a hawk or other large bird with reasonable prospects of success ; if in only one barrel, the other being more heavily charged, j'ou are crippled to the extent of exactl}' one-half of your resources for ordinary shooting. Whereas, with the breech-loader you will habitually use mustard-seed in both barrels, and yet can slip in a different shell in time to seize most opportunities requiring large shot. This consideration alone should decide the case. But, moreover, the time spent in the field in loading an ordinary gun is no small item ; while GUNS AND OTHER WEAPONS. 7 cai'trulgps may be char<;e(l in j'our leisure at home. This should become the natural occupation of your spare moments. No time is really (/a/ He(?; you simply change to advantage tlie time consumed. Metal shells, cliarged with loose ammunition, and susceptible of being reloaded many times, are preferable to paper cartridges, even such as you load j'ourself, and are far more eligible than any special fixed ammunition which, once exhausted in a distant place, and circumstances may upset the best calculations on that score, leaves the gun useless. On charging the shells mark the ninnber of the shot used on the outside wad ; or better, use colored wads, say plain white for dust shot, and red, blue and green for certain other sizes. If going ftir awa}' take as man^' shells as you think can possi- bly be wanted and then add a few more. §3. Other weapons, etc. An ordinary single-barrel gun will of course answer but is a sorr}' makeshift, for it is some- times so poorly constructed as to be unsafe,* and can at best be only just half as effective. The cane-r/un should be mentioned in this connection. It is a single-barrel, lacquered to look like a stick, with a brass stopper at the muzzle to imitate a ferule, counter-sunk hami^er and trigger, and either a simple curved handle, or a light gunstock-shaped piece that screws in. The affair is easily mistaken for a cane. Some have acquired con- siderable dexterity in its use ; my own experience with it is very limited and unsatisfactory ; the handle always hit me in the face, and I generally missed my bird. It has only two recommendations. If you approve of shooting on Sunday and yet scruple to shock popular prejudice, you can slip out of town unsuspected. If you are shooting where the law forbids destruction of small birds — a wise and good law that you may sometimes be inclined to defy — artfully careless handling of the deceitful implement may prevent arrest and fine. A bloiv-gun is sometimes used. It is a long slender tube of wood, metal or glass, through Avhich cla3--balls, tiny arrows, "■This remark does not apply to auy of tho flue single-barrelled breech-loaders now made. BB IMPLEMENTS TOR COLLECTINQ, AND THEIR USE. i y] etc., are projected b}-^ force of the breath. It must be quite an art to use such a weapon successfully, and its employment is necessarily exceptional. Some uncivilized tribes are said to possess marvellous skill in the use of long bamboo blow-guns ; and such people are often valuable employes of the collector. 1 have had no experience Avith the noiseless air-gun, which is, in elfect, a modified blow-gun, compressed air being the explo- sive power. Nor can I say much of various methods of trap- jnng birds that may be practised. On these points I must leave you to 3'our own devices, with the remark that horse-hair snares, set over a nest, are often of great service in securing the parent of eggs that miglit otherwise remain tmldentijicd. I have no practical knowledge of hird-lime; 1 believe it is seldom used in this countr3\ A method of nettivg birds alive, which I have tried, is both easy and successful. A net of fine green silk, some 8 or 10 feet square, is stretched perpendicu- larly across a narrow part of one of the tiny brooks, over- grown with briers and shrubbery, that intersect manj' of our meadows. Retreating to a distance the collector beats along the shrubbery making all the noise he can, urging on the little birds till they reach the almost invisible net and become en- tangled in trying to fly through. I have in this manner taken a dozen sparrows and the like atone ^' drive." But the gun can rarely be laid aside for this or any similar device. i« ' ! 1 §4. Ammunition. The best x^otoder is that combining strength and cleanliness in the highest compatible degree. In some brands too much of the latter is sacrificed to the former. Other things being equal, a rather coarse powder is preferable, since its slower action tends to throw shot closer. Some num- bers are said to be "too quick" for fine breech-loaders. In- experienced sportsmen and collectors almost invariabl}- use too coarse shot. When unnecessarily large, two evils result : the number of pellets in a load is decreased, the chances of killing being correspondingl}' lessened ; and the plumage is unnecessarily injured, either by direct mutilation, or by subse- quent bleeding through large holes. As already hinted, shot POWDER, SHOT AND WADS. 9 cannot be too fine for your routine collecting. Use " mustard- seed," or " dust-shot," as it is variously called ; it is smaller than any of the sizes usually numbered. As the very finest can only be procured in cities, provide yourself liberally on leaving any centre of civilization for even a country village, to say nothing of remote regions. A small bird that would have been torn to pieces by a few large pellets, may be riddled with mustard-seed and yet be prcservable ; moreover, there is, as a rule, little or no bleeding from these minute holes, which close up by the elasticity of tlie tissues involved. It is aston- ishing what large birds may be brought down with the tiny pellets. I have killed hawks with such shot, knocked over a wood ibis at forty yards and once shot a wolf dead with No. 10, though I am bound to say the animal was williin a few feet of me. After dust-shot, and the nearest number or two, No. 8 or 7 will be found most useful. Waterfowl, thick-skinned sea birds like loons, cormorants and pelicans, and a few of the largest land birds, require heavier shot. I have had no ex- perience with the substitution of fine gravel or sand, much less water, as a projectile ; besides shot I never fired anything at a bird except my ranu'od, on one or two occasions, when I never afterwards saw either the bird or the stick. The comparatively trivial matter of caj^s will repay attention. Breech-loaders not discharged with a pin take a particular style of short cap called a "primer;" for other guns the best Avater-proof lined caps will prevent annoyance and disappointment in wet weather, and may save j^ou an eye, for they only sp//^ when exploded ; whereas, the flimsy cheap ones — that "GD" trash, for in- stance, sold in the corner grocery at ten cents a hundred — usually fly to pieces. Moreover, the top of such a cap is sometimes driven into the nipple. Using Ely's caps, I shot a whole season in the fog and rain of Labrador, without a single miss-fire, though my gun was sometimes dripping. Cut felt wads are the only suitable article. lily's " chemically prepared " wadding is the best. It is well, when using plain wads, occa- sionally to drive a greased one through the barrel. Since you may sometimes run out of wads through an unexpected coutin- 10 IMPLEMENTS FOR COLLECTING, AND THEIR USE. gency, always keep a Avad-cutter to fit your gun. You can make serviceable wads of pasteboard, but they are far inferior to felt. Cut them on the flat sawn end of a stick of fire- wood ; the side of a plank does not do very well. Use a wooden mallet, instead of a hammer or hatchet, and so save your cutter. Soft paper is next best after wads ; I have never used rags, cotton or tow, fearing these tinder-like substances might leave a spark in the barrels. Crumbled leaves or grass will answer at a pinch. I have occasionally, in a desperate hurry, loaded and killed without any wadding. §5. Other equipments.* a. For the gun. A gun-case will come cheap in the end, especially if you travel much. The usual box, divided into compartments, and well lined, is the best, though the full length leather or india-rubber cloth case answers very )11. The box should contain a small kit of tools, such mainspring-vise, nipple-wrench, screw-driver, etc. A stout hard-wood cleaning rod, with wormer, will be required. It is always safe to have parts of the gun lock, especially mainspring, in duplicate. For muzzle-loaders extra nipples and extra ramrod heads and tips often come into use. For breech-loaders the apparatus for charging the shells is so useful as to be practically indispensable, b. For ammunition. Metal shells or paper cartridges may be carried loose in the large lower coat pocket, or in a leathern satchel. There is said to be a chance of explosion by some unlucky blow, where they are so carried, but I never knew of an instance. Another way is to fix them separately in a row in snug loops of soft leather sewn continuously along a stout waist-belt ; or in sev- eral such horizontal rows on a square piece of thick leather, to be slung by a strap over the shoulder. The appliances for loose ammunition are almost endlessly varied, so every one may con- * Parker Brothers, West Meriden, Conn., publish a pamphlet which I should advise you to get. I suppose it would be mailed on application. It is of course entirely in the business interest of the Parker gun, but gives many useful hints of general practical applicability, respecting the appliances for guns and ammu- nition. There is a good deal of apparatus that I pass over as not being indispen- sable, but which you might find convenient. APPAKaTUS. — CLOTHING. 11 suit his taste or convenience. Tlie sliot-pouch I had settled upon before using a breccli-loader, as the most satisfactory is the "double-barrelled" one, so to speak, that buckles round the waist, and is further supported by shoulder-straps crossing on the back exactly like a pair of suspenders. This so fixes and distributes the weight that it is carried Avith the least fatigue ; I think it far preferable to the pear-shaped hand pouches dangling by a cord. Since it cannot be raised to the muzzle of the gun, and since moreover mustard-seed will easily slip through the openings for the slides of the ordinary lever arrangement for measuring the charge of shot, the nozzle of the pouch should have a thimble for the same purpose. The rule of loading being bulk for bulk of powder and shot it is often convenient to carry mustard-seed in a powder-flask ; the slide works readily through fine shot to cut olf a charge, though it will not do so with coarser. Caps are most conveniently carried loose in a right-hand vest poolcet, or fob on the outside of the coat ; wads in a lower right-hand pocket, c. For speci- mens. You must always caiTy paper in which to wrap up your specimens, as more particularly directed beyond. Nothing is better for this purpose than writing-paper ; " rejected " or other- wise useless MSS. may thus be utilized. The ordinary game bag, with leather back and network front, answers very well ; but a light basket, fitting the body, such as is used by fisher- men, is the best thing to carry specimens in. Avoid putting specimens into pockets^ unless you have your coat tail largely excavated : crowding them into a close pocket, where they press each other, and receive warmth from the person, will injure them. It is always well to take a little cotton into the field, to plug up shot-holes, mouth, nostrils or vent, immediately, if required, d. For yourself. The indications to be fulfilled in your clothing are these : Adaptability to the weather ; and since a shooting coat is not conveniently changed, while an overcoat is ordinarily ineligible, the require- ment is best met by different underclothes. Easy fit, allowing perfect freedom of muscular action, especially of the arms. Strength of fabric, to resist briers and stand wear ; velveteen mmn 12 IMPLEMENTS FOR COLLECTING, AND THEIR USE. and corduroy are excellent materials. Subdued color, to render you as inconspicuous as possible, and to show dirt the least. Multiplicity of pockets — a perfect shooting-coat is an inge- nious system of hanging pouches about the person. Broad soled, low heeled boots or shoes, giving a lirm tread even when wet. Close-fitting cap with prominent visor, or low soft felt hat, rather broad brimmed. Let india-rubber goods alone ; the field is no place for a sweat-bath. §6. Qualifications for success. With the outfit just indicated you command all the required appliances that you can buy, and the rest lies with yourself. Success hangs upon your own exertions ; upon your energy, industry and persever- ance ; your knowledge and skill ; your zeal and enthusiasm, in collecting birds, much as in other affairs of life. But that your efforts — maiden attempts they must once have been if they be not such now — may be directed to best advantage, further instructions may not be unacceptable. §7. To CAiiHY A GUN without peril to human life or limb is the a 6 c of its use. "There's death in the pot." Such con- stant care is required to avoid accidents that no man can give it by continual voluntary efforts , safe carnage of the gun must become an unconscious habit, fixed as the movements of an automaton. The golden rule and whole secret is : the muz- zle must never siveep the horizon; accidental discharge should send the shot into the ground before your feet, or away up in the air. There are several safe and easy ways of holding a piece : they will be emploj'cd by turns to relieve particular muscles when fatigued. 1. Hold it in the hollow of the arm (preferably the left, as you can recover to aim in less time than from the right), across the front of your person, the hand on the grip, the muzzle elevated about 45°. 2. Hang it by the trigger-guard hitched over the forearm brough*^ lound to the breast, the stock passing behind the upper arm, the muzzle pointing to the ground a pace or so in fi'ont of you. 3. Shoulder it, the hand on the grip or heel plate, the muzzle pointing upward I CARE OF A GUN. 18 at least 45°. 4. Shoulder it reversed, the hand grasping the barrels about their middle, the muzzle pointing forward and downward : this is perfectly admissible, but is the most awk- ward position of all to recover from. Always carry a loaded gun at half-cock, unless you are about to shoot. Unless the lock fail, accidental discharge is impossible, except under these circumstances : a, a direct blow on the nipple or pin ; 6, catching of both hammer and trigger simultaneousl}', drawing back of the former and its release whilst the trigger is still held — the chances against which are simply incalculable. Full-cock, ticklish as it seems, is safer than no-cock, when a tap on the hammer or even the heel-plate, or a slight catch and release of the hammer, may cause discharge. Never let the muzzle of a loaded gun point toward your own person for a single instant. Get your gun over fences or into boats or carriages, before you get over or in yourself, or at any rate no later. Remove caps or cartridges on entering a house. Never aim a gun, loaded or not, at any object, unless you mean to press the trigger. Never put a loaded gun away long enough to forget Avhether it is loaded or not ; never leave a loaded gun to be found by others under circumstances reasonably presup- posing it to be unloaded. Never put a gun where it can be knocked down by a dog or a child. Never forget that though a gunning accident may be sometimes intcrpretable (from a certain standpoint) as a "dispensation of Providence," such are dispensed oftenest to the careless. §8. To CLKAN A GUN propcrly requires some knowledge, more good temper, and most ''elbow-grease ;" it is dirty, disa- greeable, inevitable work, Avhich laziness, business, tiredness, indifference and good taste will by turns tempt you to shirk. After a hunt you are tired, have your clothes to change, a meal to eat, a lot of birds to skin, a journal to write up. If you " sub-lot" the contract the chances are it is but half fulfilled ; serve yourself, if you want to be^'ell served. If you cannot find time for a regular cleaning, an intolerably foul gun may be made to do another day's work by swabbing for a few mo- 14 IMPLEMENTS FOR COLLECTING, AND THEIR USE. i h ments with a wet (not dripping) rag, and tlicn Avitli an oiled one. For the full wash use cold water first ; it loosens dirt better than hot water. •' Set the barrels in a pail of water ; wrap the end of the cleaning rod with tow or cloth, and pump away till j'our arms ache. Change the rag or tow, and the water too, till they both stay clean for all the swabbing you can do. Fill the barrels with boiling water till they are well heated ; pour it out, wipe as dry as possible inside and out, and set them by a fire. Finish with a light oiling, inside and out; touch uj) all the metal about the stock, and i)olish the wood-work. Do not remove the locks oftener than is neces- sar}'^ ; every time they are taken out, something of the exqui- site fitting that marks a good gun may be lost ; as long as they work smoothly take it for granted they are all right. The same direction applies to nipples. To keep a gun well, under long disuse, it should have had a particularly thorough cleaning ; the chambers should be packed with greasy tow ; greased wads may be rammed at intervals along the barrels ; or the barrels may be filled with melted tallow. Neat's-foot is recommended as the best easily-procured oil ; porpoise-oil which is, I believe, used by watch-makers, is the very best ; the oil made for use on sewing machines is excellent ; " olive " oil (made of lard) for table use answers the purpose. The quality of any oil may be improved by putting in it a few tacks, or scraps of zinc, — the oil expends its rusting capacity in oxidizing the metal. Inferior oils get "sticky." One of the best prevent- ives of rust is mercurial ("blue") ointment : it maj- be freely used. Kerosene will remove rust ; but use it sparingly for it "eats" sound metal too. §9. To LOAD A GUN effectively requires something more than knowledge of the facts that the powder should go in before the shot, and that each should have a wad a-top. Prob- ably the most nearly universal fault is use of too much shot for the amount of powder ; ^and the next, too much of both. The rule is hulk for bulk of powder and shot ; if not exactly this, then rather less shot than powder. It is absurd to sup- LOADING A GUN. 10 pose, as some persons who ought to know better do, that the more shot in a gun the greater the chances of killing. The projectile force of a charge cannot possibly be greater than the vis inertim of the gun as held by the shooter. Tlie explo- sion is manifested in all directions, and blows the shot one way simply and only because it has no other escape. If the resist- ance in front of the powder were greater than elsewhere the shot would not budge, but the gun would ily backward, or burst. This always reminds me of Lord Dinulreary's famous conun- drum — Why does a dog wag his tail ? Because he is bigger than his tail ; otherwise, the tail would wag him. A gun shoots shot because the gun is the heavier ; otherwise, the shot would shoot the gun. Every unnecessary pellet is a pellet against you, not against the game. The experienced sportsman uses about one- third less shot than the tyro, with proi>ortionally better result, other things being equal. As to powder, moreover, a gun can only burn just so much, and every grain blown out unburnt is wasted if nothing more. No express directions for absolute weight or measures of either powder or shot can be given ; in fact, different guns take as their most effective charge such a variable amount of ammunition, that one of the first things you have to learn about your own arm is, its normal charge-gauge. Find out, b}' assiduous target practice, what absolute amounts (and to a slight degree, what relative proportion) of powder and shot are required to shoot the furthest and distribute the pellets most evenly. This practice, furthermore, will acquaint you with the gun's capacities in every respect. You should learn exactly what it will and what it will not do, so as to feel perfect confidence in jour arm within a certain range, and to waste no shots in attempting miracles. Immoderate recoil is a pretty sure sign that the gun was overloaded, or otherwise wrongly charged ; and all force of recoil is subtracted from the impulse of the shot. It is useless to ram powder very hard ; two or three smart taps of the rod will suffice, and more will not increase the explosive force. On the shot the wad should simply be pressed close enough to fix the pellets immovably. All these directions apply to the charging of metal or paper IG IMI'LLMENTS FOR COLLECTING, AND TIIEIU USE. cartridges ns well as to loading by the muzzle. When about to recharge quo barrel see that the hammer of the other stands at half-cock. Do not drop the ramrod into the other barrel, for a stniy shot might impact between the swell of the head and the gun and make it dillicult to withdraw the rod. During the whole. operation keep the muzzle as far from your person as you conveniently can. Never force homo a wad with the flat of your hand over the cud of the rod, but hold the rod between your lingers and thumb ; in case of premature explosion, it will make just the difference of lacerated linger tip:<, or a blown-up hand. Never look into a loaded gun barrel ; you might as wisely put j'our head into a lion's mouth to see what the animal had for dinner. After a miss-fire hold the gun up a few moments and be slow to reload ; the fire sometimes " hangs" for several seconds. Finally, let me strongly impress upon you the expediency of lUjlit loailimj in your routine col- lecting. Three-fourths of your shots need not bring into action the gun's full powers of execution. You will shoot more birds under than over 30 yards ; not a few, you must secure, if at all, at 10 or 15 yards ; and your object is always to kill them with tlie least possible damage to the plumage. I have, on particular occasions, loaded even down to t^oz. of shot and l^dr. of powder. Tlicre is astonishing force compressed in a few grains of powder ; an astonishing number of pellets in the smallest load of mustard-seed. If you can load so nicely as to just drive the shot into a bird and not through it and out again, do so, and save half the holes in the skin. ! §10. To SHOOT successfully is an art which may be acquired by practice, and can be learned only in the school of experi- ence. No general directions will make you a good shot, any more than a proficient in music or painting. To tell you that in order to hit a bird you must point the gun at it and press the trigger, is like saying that to play on the fiddle j'ou must shove the bow across the strings with one hand while you fin- ger them with the other ; in either case the result is the same, a noise — vox et prceterea nihil — but neither music nor game. ABOUT SHOOTING. 17 Nor is it possible for every one to become an artist in frunncry ; a "cracli shot," lilcc a poet, is born, not ninilc. For myself I make no pretensions to genius in that dircftion ; for although I generally make fair bags, and have destroyed many thousand birds in my time, this in rather owing to some familiarity I have gained with the habits of birds, and a certain knack, acquired by long practice, of picking them out of trees and bushes, than to skilful shooting from the sportsman's stand- point ; in fact, if I cut down two or three birds on the wing with- out a miss I am working quite up to my average In that line. But an}' one, not a purblind " butter fingers," can become a reasonably fair shot by practice, and do good collecting. It is not so hard, after all, to sight a gun correctly on an immov- able oI»ject, and collecting diifcrs from sporting proper in this, that comparatively few birds are shot on the wing. But I do not mean to imply that it requires less skill to collect suc- cessfull}^ than to secure game ; on the contrary, it is finer shooting, I think, to drop a warbler skipping about a tree-top than to stop a quAil at full speed ; while hitting a sparrow that springs from the grass at one's feet to flicker in sight a few seconds and disappear is the most difficult of all shooting. Besides, a crack shot, as understood, aims unconsciously, Avith mechanical accuracy and certitude of hitting ; he simply wills, and the trained muscles obey without his superintendence, just as the fingers form letters with the pen in writing ; whereas the collector must usually supervise his muscles all through the act and see that they mind. In spite of the pro- portion of snap shots of all sorts you will have to take, your collecting shots, as a rule, are made with deliberate aim. There is much the same difierence, on the whole, between the sportsman's work and the collector's, that there is between shot-gun and rifle practice, collecting being comparable to the latter. It is generally understood that the acme of skill with the two weapons is an incompatibility ; and certainly, the best shot is not always the best collector, even supposing the two to be on a par in their knowledge of birds' haunts and habits. Still, a hopelessly poor shot can only attain fair results by !|t I I U 18 IMPLEMENTS FOR COLLECTING, AND THEIR USE. extraordinary dillgenco and porscverance. Certain principles of shooting may pcrimps be reduced to words. Aim deliber- ately directly at an immovable object at fair range. Hold over a motionless object when far off, as the trajectory of tho shot curves downward. Hold a little to one si