46 REGISTRATION AND LABELLING. 



good smooth paper ; but smaller may be needed for travelling, 

 even down to a pocket note-book. I would not advise a multi- 

 plicity of books, splitting up your record into different depart- 

 ments ; let it be journal and register of specimens combined. 

 (The registry of your own collecting has nothing to do with the 

 register of your cabinet of birds, which is sure to include a pro- 

 portion of specimens from other sources, received in exchange, 

 donated, or purchased. I speak of this beyond.) I have found 

 it convenient to commence a day's record with a register of the 

 specimens secured, each entry consisting of a duplicate of the 

 bird's label (see beyond), accompanied by any further remarks 

 I have to offer respecting the particular specimens ; then to go 

 on with the full of my da^^'s observations, as suggested in the 

 last paragraph. You thus have a "register of collections" in 

 chronological order, toed off with an unbroken series of num- 

 bers, checked with the routine label-items, and continually 

 interspersed with the balance of j^our ornithological studies. 

 Since your private field-number is sometimes an indispensable 

 clew in the authentication of a specimen after it has left your 

 own hands, never duplicate it. If you are collecting other ob- 

 jects of natural history besides birds, still have but one series 

 of numbers ; duly enter j^our mammal, or mineral, or what- 

 ever it is, in its place, with the number under which it hap- 

 pens to fall. Be scrupulously accurate with these and all other 

 figures, as of dates and measurements. Always use black ink ; 

 the "fancy" writing-fluids, even the useful carmine, fade sooner 

 than black, while lead pencilling is never safe. 



§29. Labelling. This should never be neglected. It is 

 enough to make a sensitive ornithologist shiver to see a speci- 

 men without the indispensable appendage — a label. I am 

 sorry to observe that the routine labelling of most collections 

 is far from being satisfactory. A well-appointed label is some- 

 thing more than a slip of paper with the bird's name on it, and 

 is still defective, if, as is too often the case, only the locality 

 and collector are added. A complete label records the follow- 

 ing particulars: — 1. Title of the survey, voyage, exploration, 



