INTRODUCTION. 



The object of this Catalogue is, to offer a substitute for the 

 prevalent use Oti printed labels for eggs. 



An Oologist who feels how important it is that every 

 egg in his collection should bear a distinctive mark, to prevent 

 its being mistaken for some other species like it in colour or 

 in shape, will have experienced also the great inconvenience 

 which arises from the common practice of labelling eggs, for 

 the purpose of distinguishing them. Not only do labels dis- 

 figure the larger specimens, to which alone they are applicable, 

 but they become altogether useless as regards the smaller 

 eggs ; since, in that case, they prove considerably larger than 

 the eggs for which they were intended. Nor is the other 

 method preferable, of writing in ink upon the smaller eggs, 

 either the name, or a number corresponding with a catalogue of 

 the collection. For, writing spoils the appearance of an egg as 

 much as a label does ; and in the event of an error, the name 

 or the number cannot be rubbed out without risk of injming 

 the egg. 



The following plan, however, may seem to possess fewer 



