EGG CHECK LIST OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. LU 
Go into the field as lightly equipped as possible. Before you gather 
together a wagon load of pullies, block and tackle, find out just where you 
are going to use them. 
In climbing high trees, climbers should be used, and a wooden or tin 
box, filled with cotton, should be taken up with you; in this, securely 
place the eggs before descending the tree. 
When you come across a large number of the nests and eggs of one 
species, do not take every nest you can lay your hands on; allow some 
to remain untouched. A writer in the ‘‘Ornithologist and Oologist”’ justly 
describes such a collector under the title of ‘‘The Great American Egg 
Hog.” It is not a very elegant expression, but it certainly hits some col- 
lectors very hard. 
If you are going to collect eggs for the purpose of showing them to 
vour friends, like so many pretty beads, you had better give it up at once. 
Collectors of this kind do more harm than good. 
When eggs are to be shipped by mail or express they should never 
be packed in anything but wooden or tin boxes. Each egg should:be 
wrapped in cotton and bound tightly with thread and then wrapped in 
tissue paper. Place them in layers in the box with bits of cotton between 
each egg, The bottom, sides and end of the box is often lined with sheet 
cotton which is still better protection. 
In all ordinary cases collections of eggs are preserved in the drawers 
of a-cabinet. These are divided by partitions, and each section partly 
filled with grated cork or box-wood sawdust, in which the eggs are placed. 
The choice of a cabinet must depend largely upon the collector’s means, if 
not also upon his individual preference. 
