CHAPTER VI.
SKELETONS.
During the busy collecting season, rough skeletons may be made by removing skin, viscera, and as much muscle as possible, covering the body with the arsenic-alum powder, and allowing it to dry, when the specimen may be wrapped in paper and laid away for future use. To prepare skeletons for the cabinet, remove as much of the fleshy parts as possible, and boil the bones until the remaining flesh is softened and can be easily removed. Then boil in water in which a piece of lime as large as a hen's egg has been dissolved. Remove, dry, and if necessary wire.
Another way recommended is to remove all the soft parts, and scald the hard parts in boiling water containing a few drops of hydrochloric acid. Leave the bones in this solution for ten minutes, wash, and boil in plain water until all the muscle, etc., is softened. Clean this away with a brush or by a stream of water. Boil in a strong solution of soda, wash with soap and water, and when perfectly clean, dehydrate with boiling alcohol (Junker). Skeletons should be mounted on wires fixed in a wooden standard painted black.
CHAPTER VII.
HUNTING AND HYGIENE.
To be a good collector, it is necessary to be something more than a good marksman. You must know at what time of day to go out to be most successful, and the localities where you are most likely to find the birds that you are looking for. In the field, you must be all eyes and ears. No thicket should be too dense, no tree too tall for your quick eye to penetrate its foliage; no chirp or rustle too small or weak for your active ear to detect. In short, to be a good collector you must understand wood-craft. Sometimes a bird is seen just disappearing into the underbrush. A very good call, which seldom fails in bringing the bird from its retreat, is made by placing the back of the hand to the lips and sucking. By practice, this may be made to resemble the cries of a wounded bird. Early morning and just before sun-down have been found to be the best hours for collecting, although something may be done at any time of day. During the noon hours, birds generally remain hidden in the cool depths of the thickets and woods. Birds are seldom found in the deep forest; but, at the hours mentioned, trees and bushes skirting roads, fields and meadows, will be found teeming with life.
THE GUN.
The choice of a gun for collecting purposes is, of course, optional with the reader; but a good twelve or fourteen bore breech-loading shot gun will give better satisfaction than any other, and will be worth the price of the gun in time-saving, when in the field. The pistol-guns, introduced within the last few years, often prove of great service in collecting small specimens.