BEGISTBATION AND LABELLING. 23 



but one series of numbers ; duly enter your mammal, or mineral, or whatever it is, in its 

 place, with the number under which it happens to fall. Be scru])ulously 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. 



Labelling. — This should never be neglected. It is enough to make a sensitive ornithol- 

 ogist shiver to see a specimen without that 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 something 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 following particulars : 1. Title of the survey, voyage, exploration, or other 

 expedition (if any), during which the specimen was collected. 2. Name of the person in 

 charge of the same (and it may be remarked that the less he really cares about birds, and the 

 less he actually interests himself to procure them, the more particular he will be about this). 

 3. Title of the institution or association (if any) under the auspices or patronage of which the 

 specimen was procured, or for which it is designed. 4. Name of collector; partly to give 

 credit where it is due, but principally to fix responsibility, and authenticate the rest of the 

 items. 5. Collector's number, referring to his note-book, as just explained; if the specimen 

 afterwards forms part of a general collection it usually acquires another number by new regis- 

 try ; the collector's then becoming the "original," as distinguished from the "current," 

 number. 6. Locality, perhaps the most important of all the items. A specimen of unknown 

 or even uncertain origin is worthless or nearly so ; while lamentable confusion has only too 

 often arisen in ornithological writings from vague or erroneous indications of locality : I should 

 say that a specimen "not authentic " in this particular had better have its supposed origin 

 erased and be let alone. Nor will it do to say simply, for instance, " North America" or even 

 " United States." The general geographical distribution of birds being according to recognized 

 faunal areas, ornithologists generally know already the quarter of the globe from which any 

 bird comes ; the locality of particular specimens, therefore, should be fixed down to the very 

 spot. If this be obscure add the name of the nearest place to be found on a fairly good map, 

 giving distance and directiou. 7. Date of collection, — day of the month, and year. Among 

 other reasons for this may be mentioned the fact that it is often important to know what 

 season a particular plumage iiidicates. 8. Sex, and if possible also age, of the specimen, — an 

 item that bespeaks its own importance. Ornithologists of all countries are agreed upon certain 

 signs to indicate sex. These are: $ for male, 9 for female, — the symbols respectively of 

 Mars and Venus. Immaturity is often denoted by the sign ^ ; thus, ^ q, young male. Or, 

 we may write 9 ad, 9 tjg., for adult female, young female, respectively. It is preferable, 

 however, to use the language of science, not our vernacular, and say ^ juv. (juvenis, young). 

 "i\r«^;P^." siguifies breeding plumage; " ^or«o#." means a bird of the year. 9. Measurements 

 of length, and of extent of wings; the former can only be obtained approximately, and the 

 latter not at all, from a prepared specimen. 10. Color of the eyes, and of the bill, feet, or 

 other naked or soft parts, the tints of which may change in drying. 11, Miscellaneous partic- 

 ulars, such as contents of stomach, special circumstances of capture, vernacular name, etc. 

 12. Scientific name of the bird. This is really the least important item of all, though 

 generally thought to take precedence. But a bird labels itself, so to speak; and nature's 

 label may be deciphered at any time. In fact, I would enjoin upon the collector not to 

 write out the supposed name of the bird in the field, unless the species is so well known as 

 to be absolutely unquestionable. Proper identification, in any case to which the slightest 

 doubt may attach, can only be made after critical study in the closet with ample facilities for 

 examination and comparison. The first eight items, and the twelfth, usually constitute the 



