84 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY part i 



Cases for Storage or Transportation should be rather small, 

 for several reasons. They are easier to handle and pack. There 

 are fewer birds pressing each other. Particular specimens are more 

 readily reached. Insects must effect just so many more separate 

 entrances to infest the whole. Small lids are more readily fitted 

 tight. For the ordinary run of small birds I should not desire a 

 box over 18x18x18 inches, and should prefer a smaller one ; for 

 large birds, a box just long enough for the biggest specimen, and of 

 other proportions to correspond, is most eligible. Whatever the 

 dimensions, a proper box presupposes perfect jointing ; but if any 

 suspicion be entertained on this score, stout paper should be pasted 

 along all the edges, both inside and out. We have practically to 

 do with the lid only. If the lot is likely to remain long untouched, 

 the cover may be screwed very close and the crack pasted like the 

 others. Under other and usual circumstances the lid may be pro- 

 vided with a metal boss fitting a groove lined with india-rubber or 

 filled with wax. An excellent case may be made of tin with the 

 lid secured in this manner, and further fortified with a wooden 

 casing. Birdskins entirely free from insects or their eggs, encased 

 in some such secure manner, will remain intact indefinitely ; but 

 there is misery in store if any bugs or nits be put away with them. 



Cabinets. — As a matter of fact, most collections are kept readily 

 accessible for examination, display, or other immediate use, and this 

 precludes any disposition of them in hermetical cases. The most 

 we can do is to secure tight fitting of movable woodwork. The 

 cabinet is most eligible for private collections. This is, in effect, 

 simply a bureau, or chest of drawers, protected with folding doors, 

 or a front that may be detached, either of plain wood or sashing 

 for panes of glass. It is astonishing how many birdskins of average 

 size can be accommodated in a cabinet that makes no inconvenient 

 piece of furniture for an ordinary room. A cabinet may of course 

 be of any desired size, shape, and style. In general it will be 

 better to put money into excellence of fitting rather than elegance 

 of finish ; the handsomest front does not compensate for a crack in 

 the back or for a drawer that hitches. There should not be the 

 slightest flaw in the exterior, and doors should fit so tightly that a 

 putf of air may be felt on closing tliem. The greatest desideratum 

 of the interior work, next after close fitting yet smooth running of 

 the drawers, is economy of space. This is secured by making the 

 drawers as thin as is consistent with stability ; by having them 

 slide by a boss at each end fitting a groove in the side wall, instead 

 of resting on horizontal partitions ; and by hinged countersunk 

 handles instead of knobs. I do not recommend, except for a suite 

 of the smallest birds, a multiplicity of shallow drawers, accommodat- 

 ing each one layer of specimens ; it is better to have fewer deeper 



