CHAPTER lll. 
     
    
   
   
    
     COLLECTING BIRDS, THEIR NESTN. AND EGGS. 
     
    
   
   
    
     ('o/lcc/z'ng Birds—With few exceptions. the plumages of the birds 
     
     of the eastern United St ates are well known to science. You will col- 
     
     lect them. therefore. purely for the purpose of self-education. To this 
     
     end it is not necessary that you should acquire the large series of speci- 
     
     mens found in museums. From two to tire specimens of each kind 
     
     are enough, and when through their medium you have become famil- 
     
     iar with the appearance ot’ the species they represent. use the gun only 
     
     to add to your list of acquaintances. If you wish to make a detailed, 
     
     critical study of changes in the plmnage of species due to age. sex, or 
     
     season, or to compare, some apparently almormal specimen. visit the 
     
     nearest museum. the collections of which should be accessible to every 
     
     earnest student. 
     
    

    
     Our eastern birds have been measured and described. their 'aria- 
     
     tions noted and recorded. and there is little left to learn in study- 
     
     ing: their skins from a local standpoint. What we want now is knowl- 
     
     edge of the Iii-inf]. not: the dead, hird. .»\ thoroughly exhaustive 
     
     account of the habits of any one of our commonest birds is still to be 
     
     written. Remember, then, that collections are a means. not the end, 
     
     of ornithological research. 
     
    

    
     When armed and ready for the, field. you should have a canvas 
     
     hunting-coat. a pair of field» or ope ‘a-glasses. a fisheriuan's lmsket, or 
     
     “creel," a discarded oetavo pamphlet or catalogue of rather heavy 
     
     paper. cotton. :1 small bottle of corn-meal, and a 16—bore shot-gun 
     
     with a 032 auxiliary harrel, and the necessary complement of shells. 
     
     The auxiliary harrel can he purchased of dealers in natural history 
     
     supplies: it should not exceed ten inches in length. The shells for 
     
     it should be of l) 'ass. centersfire, and strong enough to stand reloading 
     
     many times. Load them with a fine-g'ained powder and No. 12 shot 
     
     —al)out, three fifths powder and two fifths shot. For killing blrds 
     
     from the size of a Blue Jay downward they will be effective at a dis- 
     
     tance of twenty to twenty-five yards. In other words. fully three 
     
    
   
   
    
     fourths of your shooting will be done with them. Of 16-bore shells 
     
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