11 



render the specimens more fitted for the cabinet. But the main 

 points to be attended to, as being those by which science can 

 alone be benefited, are identification and authentication. 



IDENTIFICATION. 



Of course the most satisfactory, and often the simplest, way of 

 identifying the species to which a nest of eggs, when found, be- 

 longs, is to obtain one of the parents, by shooting, snaring, or 

 trapping. But it sometimes, in practice, happens that this is 

 found to be difficult, from one cause or another — such as the 

 wary instincts of the birds, or the necessities of his position 

 compelling the traveller to lose no time, or the scarcity of the 

 species making him unwilling to destroy the individuals. In 

 any of these cases there is nothing to be done but to make as 

 careful an examination as circumstances will admit of the precise 

 situation of the nest, the materials of which it is composed (sup- 

 posing that the collector cannot bring it away with him), and 

 accurately to survey the surrounding locality, to observe by what 

 species it is frequented; all the particulars of which examination 

 and survey should be fully noted down at the earliest opportunity 

 possible. Should, however, either or both the birds be killed, 

 they should be skinned, or at least some characteristic part of 

 each preserved,* and duly labelled to correspond with the in- 

 scriptions subsequently put on the eggs, and always with a 

 reference to the collector's journal or note-book, wherein fuller 

 details may be found. 



The oologist is especially warned not to be misled by the mere 

 fact of seeing birds around or near the nests. Many of the crow 

 family (Corvidie) are great eaters of eggs, and mistakes are known 

 to have originated from birds of that kind being seen near nests 

 of which they were certainly not the owners. Others, such as 

 the titmice {Paridce), though not plunderers, obtain their food 

 by incessantly seeking it even in the very localities where many 



' Birds may be preserved entire by simply pouring (through a small 

 funnel) a few drops of pyroHgneous acid down their throats, and satu- 

 rating the feathers, especially about the vent, with the same fluid ; after 

 leaving them to dry for an hour or so, they may be wrapped in paper 

 and packed. (Communicated by Mr. .John Hancock.) 



