74 



THE OOLOGIST. 



the meantime, proving a boon, in- 

 deed, to tlie previously perplexed 

 manipulator. 



A hint about tags: None more fit 

 could be devised than those recom- 

 mended to the writer by Dr. Bishop 

 of New Haven. They are made of 

 tough, thin linen. They are about 

 three-fourths of an inch wide and 

 about three inches long. (By caliper 

 measure I find; that they are exactly 

 .55 X 2.82 inches). On these slips 

 are neatly printed certain detail out- 

 lines; which are immensely helpful 

 to the busy preparator. 



One closing suggestion I would 

 fain print in display capitals; and set, 

 over and over again, in endless repet- 

 ition, on every page of a whole issue 

 of the Oologist: In making any re- 

 cord, in the making of ALL records. 



Last year the writer had occasion 

 to go over a parcel of skins, — a few 

 of them rich in suggestion and local 

 interest, that were taken by him in 

 Rice county, Minnesota, and in Mani- 

 tou Park, Colorado, thirty, odd, years 

 ago. With few exceptions these skins 

 had all to be re-labelled; chiefly be- 

 cause the ink originally used had fad- 

 ed: some of it, utterly so. A power- 

 ful reading glass, onl, made it possi- 

 ble to transcribe and to preserve, the 

 precious data. The shape of the tags 

 used, moreover, was bad, in most 

 cases, beyond portrayal. In replacing 

 then, those old odd, clumsy and much- 

 in-the-way labels, with their long, 

 dangling, tangling concomitants of 

 string, the neat, narrow Bishop-style 

 tags were neatly fastened to the 

 crossed juncture of the tarsi of the 

 skins; just enough of the connecting 

 thread being left between the tag and 

 juncture to enable the student to ex- 

 amine the tag favorably. Only strong 

 silk was used; of a size not too large. 

 Tihe combined result made some of 

 the skins in question, — they being 



strictly 'prentice work,' — look bum, 

 enough. But one had the satisfaction 

 of knowing that, under any probable 

 set of conditions, the data for those 

 skins will be just as legible to my 

 grandsons, — if I should have any, — 

 as they are to myself, today. 



Pardon one more preachment: the 

 very hardest thing, the most tantaliz- 

 ing slow thing, about the making of 

 bird skins, will always be the shap- 

 ing. Here acquired skill will always 

 set its mark. And no student who 

 aspires to do the very best possible 

 work will ever weary in his well-do- 

 ing, herein, until his work will pass 

 muster, anywhere. To illustrate what 

 a conscientious perseveringness can 

 accomplish, in these directions, I will 

 say that 1 have, among the first skins 

 for which I ever exchanged, a few 

 that were prepared by T. E. Slevin of 

 San Francisco. It was among his 

 very first work, I imagine; and it 

 would be hard to find poorer made 

 skins. But, am I not glad, today, 

 that I did not follow up a rather re- 

 cent impulse, born of accrued critical- 

 ness, and burn those skins. For, 

 a:aiong the large mass of material left 

 extent by Mr. Slevin, in his dying, 

 a-'-e skins in large number that are 

 wonderfully marked for their fastidi- 

 ously dainty and perfect shaping. 

 And thereby, my fellow boys, there 

 hangs a moral. 



P. B. PEABODY. 

 Livermore, Iowa, April 20, 1908. 



THE NEXT WORLD'S FAIR. 



Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition a*. 

 Seattle, in 1909, Now Claims At- 

 tention — Management Surprises 

 Country by Not Asking for Gov- 

 ernment Aid — Its Progress to 

 Data. 



By Frank L. Herrick. 

 Now that the Jamestown Ter-Cen- 

 tennial Exposition has closed, all eyes 



