Taxidermy and Zoological Collecting. W. J. Holland

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СКАЧАТЬ nothing of more cumbersome luggage, and very little collecting is done. In nine cases out of ten, however, it is advisable to take along a good outfit, even though there be three or four boxes of it, for, except in such journeys as those mentioned above, there will always be a way to get it along. It will cost a few dollars for freight, and some trouble in management; but if you are a good collector, and mean business, you will not mind that in the least. Where there's a will there's locomotion; and to collect well, or even at all, one must have something to collect with. It is an expensive and exceedingly laborious business at best, so don't go expecting to have your "baggage checked through to destination, free of charge."

      But there are a great many of my readers who, while they may never want to go off into a howling wilderness, might greatly enjoy collecting on such trips as they do take. Then, again, there are sportsmen and travellers who will willingly carry into good game districts a book of instructions, and enough tools to enable them successfully to remove and preserve the skins of valuable trophies of the chase, and other specimens which should be kept on account of their scientific value or their beauty. To meet the requirements of both the amateur and the sportsman I recommend:

      The Traveller's Handy Outfit,

      For a Collector of Mammals, Heads, Trophies, etc., and also Birds.

      Firearms, as you please.

      A tool-box of ¼ inch ash, size 7 × 13 × 3 inches, containing the following:

2 large skinning-knives (see Fig. 1).	1 tape measure.
2 cartilage knives (see Fig. 1).	1 brain hook.
1 pair scissors.	1 pair 9-inch forceps.
1 small oil-stone.	1 pair short forceps.
1 spool thread.	And if eggs are to be collected, then must
1 package needles.	be added:
1 package labels.	1 blow-pipe.
1 2-foot rule.	1 set of egg-drills.

      With the addition of 10 large skinning knives, this was the identical outfit I took with me on two collecting trips to Montana, during which we skinned and skeletonized 24 buffaloes, about 20 antelope, 10 deer, 9 coyotes, and a goodly number of birds and small mammals.

      The points in favor of this outfit are its cheapness, compactness, portability, and great general utility. It can be carried in a knapsack behind a saddle on an overland journey, and to an explorer it is useful in a hundred ways besides those for which it is specially intended.

      Firearms.—The gun question is a good deal like the wife question—every man prefers to choose for himself, and advice is chiefly superfluous. Nevertheless, to those who have as yet no preferences, I will briefly state mine, and the reasons for them.

      If I could have but one weapon, I should choose the Maynard rifle, calibre 40, with extra long cartridge, and a No. 12 shot-barrel fitting to the same stock, and interchangeable in less than fifteen seconds of time. The rifle is light and handy; it hits hard, and is as true as steel ever gets to be. It will hit every time precisely where you hold it. Its construction is so simple it seldom breaks or gets out of order, the brass shells never wear out, and when loaded are about as impervious to water as marine torpedoes. Should you go under water—rifle, cartridges, and all—you have only to "bob up serenely," and go on firing as if nothing had happened.

      By the addition of a shot-barrel, at a very slight expense, you have, in reality, two good breech-loading weapons that will serve you well for general purposes.

      For ordinary large game I also prefer the Maynard rifle, but of a heavier calibre than the above. Calibre 45 is the best size, taking the U.M.C. Co.'s Bullard cartridges loaded with 85 grains of powder and 295 grains of lead. These with the Maynard make a beautiful combination. It carries point-blank up to 170 yards, if not even 200; the ball has great accuracy and penetration, with a very low trajectory, and very little recoil. A heavier bullet means a hearty kick and loss of accuracy, and one of 500 grains of lead means occasional blood at your end of the gun, and a black and blue shoulder.

      For such great beasts as the elephant, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus, the choice must lie between a double 8-bore rifle, and the No. 8 smooth-bore. For my part, I would rather hunt my elephants with such a gun as I used on them in India, a No. 8 smooth-bore, double-barrelled, which, though weighing less than 10 pounds, never kicked seriously, even with enough powder (6 drachms) to send a zinc bullet through an elephant's skull and brain, and out on the other side. With such a weapon there will be no need to run after an animal, nor run away from it either, after you get one fair shot at it.[1]

      For hunting large birds and small mammals a No. 10 shot-gun is the best; but if you are specially interested in birds and care little for mammals, a No. 12 breech-loader with top-snap action will be preferable. For my purposes, however, my No. 10 double Werner and No. 16 Maynard always worked beautifully together, and I think these two sizes afford the best combination a collector can find. Being very strongly built, I often loaded my No. 10 with a single ball, and bagged many a fine Indian bison in that way.

      I always used heavy brass shells with all my shot-guns, for the following reason: I could not spare room to carry paper shells, the rains I encountered would have spoiled too many of them, and away from home they were too expensive a luxury for me to afford. The brass shells are expensive to start with, but they last forever, or until they are lost.

      Hints on Hunting.—The duty of a naturalist to his specimen begins when he levels his gun at it in the field.

      Do not shoot a specimen to pieces, or mutilate it beyond recognition by its own mother.

      Study the moral principles of your guns, find out exactly what they will do with what you put into them, and then don't shoot your specimens too much. What is a tiger worth with the top of his head blown off, or a deer with a great hole torn in his side by an explosive bullet?

      Three vital principles to be observed in hunting specimens are the following: See everything ahead, and allow nothing to see you. Shoot to kill, but shoot so as to get your specimen with the least possible mutilation. A squirrel shot with a rifle is usually unfit for a specimen, and a bird with its legs shot to pieces, mandibles shot off, and half its tail feathers torn to pieces is about the same as no bird at all, unless it happens to be a rare one. In using a rifle, get as close to your game as you can (unless it be a tiger or bear!), so as to be sure of getting it. With the shot-gun, get as far away as you dare, so as to get no more shot into your bird than is necessary to kill it.

      

      It is a disgrace for a collector to shoot a bird to pieces and be obliged to throw it away.

      I append a showing of what I use in collecting, according to circumstances. It is hardly likely that any two collectors in the world agree on these points, therefore I do not expect that these tables will suit the old hands. I put them forth as mere suggestions to beginners.

      Recommendations in Regard to Hunting with the СКАЧАТЬ