THE LEDGER. 61 



A PROPOSED FORM OF RECORD-BOOK. 



Provide yourself with a blank book of considerable 

 size. If you buy a new one, get one well bound, 

 having good paper and at least one hundred and 

 fifty quarto pages. Call this your Ledger, and on 

 the first page write : 



" The first number inscribed upon each egg in the 

 collection, of ivhich this is the record, corresponds 

 with the number of the species of bird to tohich it 

 belongs, as enumerated in the revised edition (1881) 

 of the Smithsonian Institution's Catalogue of Amer- 

 ican Birds, published as Bidletin Number 21 of 

 the National Museuin.^'' 



It should be explained at this point, that three 

 catalogues of North American birds have been issued 

 by the Smithsonian Institution to date, under the 

 following titles : 



(1) Catalogue of North American Birds, chiefly 

 in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. By 

 Spencer F. Baird, Secretary of the Smithsonian 

 Institution. Washington, Smithsonian Institution. 

 October, 1858. 4to, paper. 1 p. 1 , pp. xvii-lvi. 

 [Reissue, with ncAv title-page, of pp. xvii-hi 

 of vol. ix. Pacific R. R. Reports ("Birds of North 

 America"). Includes, besides the list of 738 spe- 

 cies, with ha.bitats, tables of the higher groups, 



