74 



THE OOLOOIST 



A NEW METHOD IN OOLOGY 



(The "Maynard Series") 



"It is to laugh," as say the French, 

 to imagine that one may be about to 

 open up a new era, in the matter of 

 egg collecting. 



Responses to recent advertisements 

 of mine, in The Oologist, have helped 

 to crystallize an idea that has been 

 incubating in my mind for fifteen 

 years. Long ago, I began to assemble 

 a large series of single eggs; with a 

 view of amassing, gradually, what 

 might be modestly termed a repre 

 sentative group of eggs of the ornis 

 of North America. 



It has been a task titanic; yet 1 am 

 seeing to the end of it The pleasure 

 it has given me could hardly be put 

 into words. 



My effort has been to make the 

 series really and inclusively compre- 

 hensive; while avoiding, so far as 

 possible, the incorporation of the 

 eggs that are least obtainable. (Yet 

 some such must be given place in 

 "The Maynard Series," for example, 

 the eggs of the Yellow Rail). 



Recently, I have been unpacking 

 and partially repacking several large 

 boxes containing what I had long ago 

 succeeded in accumulating, in this di- 

 rection. To my great delight, I have 

 found a large number of most won- 

 derfully beautiful specimens. (That 

 some of these are not perfect, though 

 neatly mended and made strong, mars 

 no whit my enjoyment of them, nor 

 lessens, this, their scientific value. 

 How disgusted 1 have been to have 

 some dilettante nonchalently tell of 

 how he is accustomed to "smash" a 

 set of eggs that may chance to have 

 a single unit slightly marred! Such 

 a man is a faddist, not a scientific 

 collector.) 



One cogent reason for making a 

 collection of this sort lies in the fact 

 that not a few, perhaps, of collectors 

 may, in their declining years be com- 



pelled, as I shall be compelled, rigid- 

 ly to limit the amount of room which 

 ones collection can be allowed. There- 

 fore, I have tried to eliminate, so far 

 as possible, every species that is, in 

 either size, texture or colorations, a 

 fair duplicate of some other species. 

 And yet, to secure a fair view of 

 ranges of variance, I have felt that 

 one should allow a series of at least 

 three eggs of each species, in the en- 

 tire collection. As now consisting, the 

 "Maynard Series" will comprise some 

 two hundred and thirty, or more, of 

 species, about seven hundred eggs. 

 One of the best known and most 

 learned oologists of North America 

 has suggested that this series be 

 formed on a phylogenetic basis. Now, 

 this suggestion rather bewilders a 

 plain amateur like me! When birds 

 so marvelously alike in structure, 

 color, habit as the Least Flycatcher 

 and the Wood Pewee yet have eggs so 

 greatly unlike, while, per contra, 

 ducks as dissimilar, (even in the mat- 

 ter of genus,) as the Pintail and the 

 Lesser Scaup sometimes afford eggs 

 that are practically indistinguishable, 

 a mere amateur like myself can hard- 

 ly imagine where phylogenesis comes 

 in. However, I certainly see the point 

 and make my bow accordin' 



I must, in passing, touch upon 

 another point in this domain. In com- 

 paring a large series of Tern eggs, 

 of the Common, Forster, Cabot, 

 Roseate and Arctic Terns, I find my- 

 self positively bewildered to decide 

 what to include and what to exclude, 

 from the suggested series. Yet this 

 leads up to the point of importance 

 and of real interest. With birds like 

 the Red-wings, Kingbirds, Vesper 

 Sparrows, Brewer Blackbirds, Tow- 

 hees. Razor-billed Auks, Murres, and 

 others, it seems to me wise to make 

 space in ones restricted cabinet for a 

 series of from ten to twenty eggs. (To 

 illustrate, I have just been examining 

 a marvelously beautiful series of 



