ent one. I think, however, I have
said enough for all practical needs; but in case any reader should
require fuller information, I must refer him to such articles as he
will find week by week in The Field, Land and Water, or the American
publication, Forest and Stream.

Good text books, also, on Trapping, etc, are W. B. Lord's "Shifts and
Expedients of Camp Life," Captain Darwin's ("High Elms") "Game
Preservers' Manual," Jefferries' "Amateur Poacher," "Gamekeeper at
Home," etc. For details as to the hunting and scientific shooting of
foreign large game, with directions as to the vulnerable spots to be
aimed at, I must again refer the reader to articles from the pen of
such men as Sir Samuel Baker, G. P. Sanderson, "Smoothbore," "The Old
Shekarry," Gordon Cumming, Jules Gerard, C. J. Andersson, Emil Holub,
F. C. Selous, etc, all of whom have either written books on sporting,
or whose articles are still to be met with in late numbers of The
Field.

CHAPTER III.

NECESSARY TOOLS.

A BAD workman, it is said, always quarrels with his tools. If this be
so, it is equally certain that a good workman, though he may make
shift with indifferent implements of his craft, yet always prefers the
best and most labour-saving tools he can procure. The chief point of
difference, however, between the skilled and unskilled workman is,
that the former may and often does get the best results with the
fewest possible tools, while the other must surround himself with
dozens of unnecessary things before he can "do a stroke." This being
so, I propose to point out to my readers in a few words, and by means
of drawings, how very few tools are required to skin and set up a bird
or small animal. My remarks will, therefore, be addressed as much to
the amateur as to the tyro desirous of becoming a professional; in
fact, I wish it to be understood that I write as much to educate the
one as the other.

The first and almost indispensable tool is the knife (I say almost,
because I have known a person begin and finish a small bird with a
pair of scissors); nearly any small knife will do to make the first
incision, but experience has shown the most useful shape to be as in
Fig. 11, which is the skinning knife; the blade, it will be observed,
is long and narrow, 3 in. to 4 in. along the cutting edge, and half an
inch across; the handle, which should be of box, lignum vitae, or any
hard wood susceptible, of a high polish, is 3.5 in. in length,
exclusiv