In the early 1900s， newfound empathy for avian creatures helped wildlife observation displace dispassionate killing.

20世纪早期，新兴的爱鸟理念推动了野生动物观察取代冷漠猎杀。

Hunting and collecting have long been obsessions among the wealthy， whether it be Egyptian pharaohs fowling in the marshes and filling their tombs with artifacts， Inca chiefs with their menageries， or early modern Europeans like Ole Worm and Francis Willughby cramming their cabinets with curiosities. The obsession with bird collecting in the 1800s and 1900s was a continuation of this trend but much more widespread， because by this date， a higher proportion of people in Europe had the wealth and time to collect. Both then and now， acquisition and accumulation often reflected deep-rooted cravings for status.

打猎和收藏长久以来都是富人们的狂热爱好，无论是在沼泽捕鸟又用大量器物随葬的埃及法老、豢养珍禽异兽的印加酋长，还是奥勒·沃姆、弗朗西斯·威勒比这些把奇珍异宝塞满自家陈列柜的早期现代欧洲人，都乐此不疲。19到20世纪的鸟类收藏狂热是这种风潮的延续，只不过范围大大扩展了，因为到那时，有钱有闲投入鸟类收藏的欧洲人比例已有所增长。无论今昔，购置和囤积往往体现了人们对于彰显地位根深蒂固的渴望。

Through the 1700s， easier travel and better firearms encouraged the collecting of wildlife. By the start of the 1800s， the making of collections—of bird skins and birds’ eggs—had become increasingly popular. This was how ornithology was done at the time： Having a specimen to examine， measure， keep and refer back to whenever necessary was the essence of scientific bird study.  Birds were shot （with dust shot for small birds）， skinned and prepared as a “study skin” （rather than a lifelike mounted specimen） that would fit tidily inside a cabinet drawer.

在整个18世纪，交通改善、火器改进促进了野生动物收藏。到19世纪初，鸟皮和鸟蛋等收藏品的制作日益流行。鸟类学研究当时是这样进行的：拥有可供检视、测量、保存并能随时查阅的标本，正是鸟类科学研究的核心。鸟类被射杀（小型鸟类用尘弹）、剥皮，制作成能整齐收纳进陈列柜抽屉内的“研究标本”（而不是栩栩如生的立体标本）。

Like other 19th-century ornithologists， Edmund Selous killed birds to study them. But in June 1898， when Selous was 40 years old， he had an epiphany while watching a pair of European nightjars.

跟19世纪其他鸟类学家一样，埃德蒙·塞卢斯也曾为了研究而猎杀鸟类。但1898年6月他40岁时，在观察一对欧洲夜鹰的过程中，塞卢斯突然明白了什么。

Magical and enigmatic， the nightjar’s perfectly patterned plumage provides exquisite camouflage while it’s on the ground， as Selous discovered as he stared out from his hide （a sheltered hiding place）. He knew there was a bird incubating in front of him， but it took over an hour before he “finally became convinced it was the bird and not a piece of fir-bark at which I was looking; and this though I knew the eggs to be there.” Thrilled by what he had seen， he wrote in an observational diary， “I must confess that I once belonged to this great， poor army of killers， though， happily， a bad shot， a most fatigable collector， and a poor half-hearted bungler1， generally. But now that I have watched birds closely， the killing of them seems to me as something monstrous and horrible.” He continued：

塞卢斯从一个隐蔽的藏身处向外观察时发现，奇妙而神秘的夜鹰，其羽毛纹理十分巧妙，在地上成为一种绝佳伪装。