In shooting birds, it is of much importance not to use the shot too large; indeed, it ought to be proportioned, as nearly as possible, to the size of the bird to be shot at. When the bird is killed, the blood must be carefully wiped away, and a little cotton must be put into the bill to prevent the blood flowing from it to injure the feathers. The wound should also be stuffed with cotton.

Birds should be skinned as soon as possible, as the feathers are apt to fall off if kept too long. The os coccygis must be kept attached to the skin. If several individuals of the same species be killed, one should, if possible, be preserved entire in spirits, with the whole muscles of the body. If the bird has a fleshy crest, it ought to be preserved in spirits.

It is of the utmost consequence to procure the male, female and young, and these at different ages besides, as many species are subject to great variety, in their progress from the young to the adult state. This is more particularly the case with Eagles and Hawks, many of which have been described as different species in their immature state. The eggs and nest should also be procured.

Reptiles. The chief thing to be attended to in skinning reptiles is not to injure the scales; and in the lizard kind, care must be taken not to break the tail. But for all the smaller and middle sized species, the best mode is to preserve them in spirits; and of the larger kind which are skinned, the skeletons ought to be kept. The flesh should be taken away with knives and scalpels as well as possible, and the bones thoroughly dried, and packed in a box with cotton or grass, and they can be articulated after they are brought home. When the skeletons are too large, they may be separated into convenient parts for packing.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

  1. Changed “materials needed for this work, is” to “materials needed for this work are” on p. [37].
  2. Changed “spirits turpentine” to “spirits of turpentine” on p. [88].
  3. Added missing “China Painting” headings on p. [115] and [118].
  4. Changed “plaster paris” to “plaster of paris” on p. [147].
  5. Silently corrected typographical errors.
  6. Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.