104 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 



rate, complete, and permanent labelling. So important is this, 

 that the undeniable defacing of a specimen, by writing on 

 it, is no offset to the advantages accruing from such fixity of 

 record. It is practically^ impossible to attach a label as is 

 done with a birdskin, and a loose label is always in danger of 

 being lost or misplaced. Write on the shell, then, as many 

 items as possible ; if done neatly, on the side in which the hole 

 was bored, at least one good "show side" remains. An ega; 

 should always bear the same number as the parent, in the col- 

 lector's record. In a general collection, where a separate 

 ornithological and oiJlogical register is kept, identification of 

 egg with parent is nevertheless readily secured, by making one 

 the numerator the other the denominator of a fraction, to be 

 simply inverted in its respective application. Thus bird No. 

 456, and egg No. 123, are identified by making the former fsfi.^ 

 the latter ]ff . All the eggs of a clutch should have the same 

 number. If the shell be large enough, the name of the species 

 should be written on it ; if too small, it should be accompanied 

 by a label and may have the name indicated b}^ a number 

 referring to a certain catalogue. According to the present 

 "Check List" for example, " No. 1 " would indicate TunJus mi- 

 gratorius. The date of collection is a highly desirable item ; it 

 may be abbreviated thus; 3 | G | 72 means June 3, 1872. It 

 is well to have the egg authenticated by the collector's initials 

 at least. Since " sets " of eggs may be broken up for distribu- 

 tions to other cabinets yet permanent indication of the size of 

 the clutch be wanted, it is well to have some method. A good 

 one is to write the number of the clutch on each egg compos- 

 ing it, giving each egg of the set, moreover, its individual num- 

 ber. Supposing for example the clutch No. -]ff contained five 

 eggs ; one of them would be |-f| | 5 | 1 : the next ^ff | 5 | 2, 

 and so on. But it should be remembered that all such arbi- 

 trary memoranda must be systematic, and be accompanied by 

 a key. Eggs may be kept in cabinets of shallow drawers in 

 little pasteboard trays, each holding a set, and containing a 

 paper label on which various items that cannot be traced on 

 the shell are written in full. Such trays should all be of the 



