CARE OF COLLECTIONS. 29 



name of collector, and serial collection number. The label shown in 

 Fig. 1 is small, but will illustrate the appearance and manner of at- 

 tachment. The name of the owner of the collection is printed on the 

 back of the label, preceded by the words " Collection of." 



Many collectors prefer to use as a field label a small jeweler's tag 

 upon which the collection number, sex, and date are written. The 

 large label is added after the specimen is dry. 



Care of a Collection. — The best cases in which to keep a collection 

 of birdskins are known as " Cambridge cans." They are made of tin 

 with covers which fit into grooves lined with rubber tubing, and are 

 practically air-tight. The smaller sizes cost from five dollars to seven 

 dollars and a half each, and can be obtained of Muller and Wood, 731 

 Seventh Avenue, New York city. 



A wooden cabinet with tight-fitting drawers and door is less ex- 

 pensive, and with ordinary care will preserve specimens for a prac- 

 tically indefinite period. The drawers should be thirty inches long by 

 sixteen inches in width. For birds the size of a Robin a depth of one 

 inch and three quarters is sufficient, while drawers four inches deep 

 will take the largest Hawks or Owls. These drawers will hold about 

 thirty birds the size of a Robin, eighty the size of a Chickadee, and 

 eight to ten Hawks and Owls. 



Well cleaned and thoroughly poisoned specimens of small birds are 

 not likely to be attacked by the moth {Tinea) or beetles {Dermesies 

 and Anthretius) which so often infest poorly prepared or nonpoisoned 

 skins. Naphthaline crystals or camphor gum should be placed in 

 each drawer of the cabinet, the door of which should not be left open 

 needlessly. If a specimen falls a victim to insects, the better plan is 

 to discard it at once. If, however, it is rare, it may be taken out-of- 

 doors and placed in an air-tight box with a few tablespoonfuls of 

 bisulphuret of carbon. 



Collecting and Preserving Nests and Eggs. — No one, I think, will 

 venture to dispute the assertion that Captain Charles Bendire, Hon- 

 orary Curator of the Department of Oology in the United States Na- 

 tional Museum, is our leading authority on the study of birds' eggs. 

 The following quotation, therefore, from Captain Bendire's Instruc- 

 tions for Collecting, Preparing, and Preserving Birds' Eggs and Nests * 

 may be taken as the opinion of one who knows whereof he speaks : 

 " Unless the would-be collector intends to make an especial study of 

 oology and has a higher aim than the mere desire to take and accu- 

 mulate as large a number of eggs as possible regardless of their proper 

 identification, he had better not begin at all, but leave the nests and 



* Part D, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 39, 1891, pp. 3-10. 



