The Oologisls' Record, December 1, 1923. 81 



SCRIBED DATA ON EGGS. 



By THE Rev. F. C. R. Jourd.\ix, M.A., M.B.O.U. 



While one tan only agree with the Editor a.s to the unsatisfactory 

 nature of clutch marks in pencil on many eggs, may I enter an 

 earnest protest against the practice of writing full details on the 

 egg itself in ink ? I have in my collection many such eggs with 

 the scientific name, locality, date, number of eggs in clutch, and in 

 some cases also even details as to the site, weight of the eggs, etc. ! 

 Needless to say, one side of the eggs is hopelessly disfigured, quite 

 unnecessarily. A key number carefully and neatly written in ink, 

 to correspond with that on the accompanying data ticket, and the 

 entry in the taker's diary, would have given all the information 

 without spoiling the appearance of the egg. 



There is, * however, another and a more serious drawback to 

 this method. Its only virtue is that when done in the field it 

 prevents possible confusion in packing and prior to incorporation 

 in the collection. But in the field, especially when pioneer work is 

 being done in little-known or new country, it is often impossible 

 to designate the species accurately. The examination of skins 

 months afterwards may show that the bird in question belongs to 

 a different sub-species or even species. Quite recently, in a world- 

 famous collection, eggs of a species of Snipe, whose presence was 

 quite unsuspected, were discovered by the examination of the skin 

 of the parent bird, marked with a corresponding number as it was 

 shot, from the eggs. What a disfigurement it would have been to 

 find that the name of an utterly wrong species or sub-species has 

 been indelibly fixed on the egg ! Fortunately, this was not the case, 

 but I have recently seen, in at least four or five cases, eggs carefully 

 and even meticulously marked with the name of a wrong species, 

 and so permanently discredited through this unfortunate practice. 

 In field work, and more especially in new or little-known districts, 

 with rare exceptions (such as downy j^oung), skins and eggs should 

 not be marked with the name of the species, which should be added 

 to the label (of a skin) or to the data ticket (in the case of an egg) 

 when the collection is worked out. 



