12 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. IG-No. 1 



those who have coneotioiis of eggs, and it lias 

 seemed to me that a description of the manner 

 in which those of the ".T.P.N." collection 

 are kept might be interesting. 



At the present time this collection cimtains 

 nearly forty-five hundred sets, and each set has 

 a separate data. It was necessary to devise 

 some plan by wbieli any one of those forty-five 

 hundred data could be readily found and con- 

 sulted, and after much rclicction and many 

 experiments the one described below was 

 adopted. 



On receiving a set of eggs the original data 

 is copied on a small printed blank measuring 

 l.'^4x..S7 inches. Tliis has the words "No." 

 (for number of species), "Date," " Ccillector," 

 "Locality," "Set Mark," "Incubation," "No. 

 in .Set," and "Identity" printed on tlie upper 

 side, with blank spaces left for filling in these 

 particulars; while on the back are written the 

 name of the species, and details as to the nest. 

 It has been found that this little blank affords 

 ample space for making an exact copy of all 

 the information given on ninety-nine data out 

 of every hundred, and by making the writing 

 small it can all be placed im it. This size was 

 adopted to allow the bl.ank ti) be placed in the 

 smallest sized pasteboard tray >ised in the 

 collection. 



It having been properly tilled iml and com- 

 pared with the original data, the blank is then 

 ]jut in the bottom of the pasteboanl tray or 

 l)ox selected to bold the set of eggs, underneath 

 the strip of Hat cotton used for its lining. 



.Some one will ask, "Why take all this 

 trouble'/" It is done to jirevent any jiossilile 

 lonfiision (it sets. Where .a collection contains 

 many series numl)ering over a hundred .sets of 

 one species, it is almost impossible to prevent 

 tlie duplication of set marks, and this might 

 h'ad to confusion; but where a eo])y of the 

 ilata is kept in tbc s:imc tray with the eggs it 

 is imiK)ssible. 



'Die original data are kept in w leii boxes; 



each of wliii'li measures twelve inches in 

 Icnglb. figlil ;ind a Naif inches in width, and 

 four and ;i biilf inches in height. 'I'hese are 

 outside mc:isuienients. The boxes are made 

 out of wood that is three-eighths of an 

 iiirli lliirk. and an> therefco'e somewhat 

 smaller inside. Tlicy carli have a liil with 

 hinges. 



The data are placed in tln-m in an ii]iright 

 Ijosition — in fact in just the same manner ihat 

 the cards are arranged in drawers in the " card 

 catalogue" of a library. Tliis admits of their 

 being easily run over inilil tlie desircil one is 



found, when it can be readily taken out and 

 examined. 



All of the same species are ke|it togetlu^r. 

 and they are arranged according to the Ridg- 

 way nomenclature, as the eggs in this collec- 

 tion have never been rearranged in compliance 

 with the A. O. I^. numbers. (Life is too short 

 to do that.) Thus all the data for sets of the 

 Wood Thrush come first in box No. 1 ; then 

 follow those of Wilson's Thrush, and so on in 

 regular luimerical order. 



All of the data for the \V 1 Thrusli are 



arranged according to the numerical secpience 

 of their set marks, thus: 1-4. 2-3. :i-t, 4-4. 5-:i, 

 etc. Occasionally a data will occ-nr where the 

 collector has been foolish ciuiugb to use letters 

 intead of inimlicrs, ami these are kept in 

 alphabetiial order at the end of those having 

 numbers for set marks, thus: a-4, b-M, c-4. etc-. 



To still further facilitate the finding of any 

 particular species, tin strijis, cut just the width 

 and height of the boxes are inserted between 

 the data at every fifty numbers. Thus there 

 is one between ."ill and ."il : another liclwren 100 

 and 101, etc. 



I claim f<u- this method : (1) (he impossibil- 

 ity of confusion arising from the mixing of 

 sets; (2) convenience of ri'fercnce, as a single 

 data, or all of one species, can be ([uickly 

 found and taken out of the box (<<v consulta- 

 tion; {:',) the preservation of the data in perfect 

 condition without folding, as the box is wide 

 enough to hold the largest, .and if the data be 

 on an absurdly small i)iece of paper (as some 

 are) it cati be either pinned or pasted on a 

 larger piece and put among its brethren which 

 are of the proper size; (4) economy of space, 

 as T keep nearly forty-five hundred data in 

 three boxes of the size described above, and 

 have plenty of ro(on to spare. ./. P. \. 



Lapland Longspur. 



This bird, cindiai'y to what .Mr. (ico. (;. 

 (Jantwell says in his list of the " Hirds of .Minne- 

 sota," is (juite common here in the winter.it 

 being some years nearly as common as the 

 .Snow Bunting. Following a.re a few extracts 

 from my note book : 



KS.SS. Novetnber I'.l. observed lloi-k of 

 birds to-day which at Hist a|ipcarcil to be 

 Horned Larks, but on a closer examination 

 proved to be a new bird to me. Shot one, 

 which proved to be a 9 of ('. /f//ipoii/c".>--. 



March il. Observed two jiair of these birds. 



