30 PREPARATION OF SPECIMENS FOR STUDY. 



plaster-of-paris, the process to be repeated until the 

 spot disappears. 



In collecting nests and eggs, not less than in de- 

 stroying birds themselves, humane reluctance to inflict 

 needless sufferincr should restrain the ornitholoo-ist from 

 indiscriminate and unnecessary interference with bird- 

 life. Unless one wishes to collect largely for legiti- 

 mate exchange, no more nests should be despoiled 

 than may be necessary to stock one's own cabinet for 

 the purposes of study. The commoner sorts of eggs 

 are readily secured in a short time, and the birds lay- 

 ing these kinds should not afterward be molested. 

 The greatest care must always be taken to identify the 

 parents of nests and eggs secured ; for specimens to 

 which any doubt attaches are comparatively worthless 

 for scientific purposes. It is not always sufficient to 

 detect a presumed parent near the nest, for there is 

 much liability to mistake where different kinds of birds 

 are breeding together, particularly if they be of nearly 

 related species, or of species whose nests, eggs, and 

 breeding habits are similar. A bird actually seen on 

 the nest, or fluttering away from it, affords the only 

 sure indication of parentage ; and if there be the slight- 

 est doubt as to the species, the parent should be snared 

 or shot, to put the identification beyond question. The 

 search for birds'-nests is not so much a matter of luck 

 or accident as some suppose it to be. Careful and 

 patient observation of the birds themselves during the 

 breedinij season gives the best clue to the situation of 

 nests, many of which are hidden with the utmost dis- 

 play of the instinct of self-preservation. Our most suc- 

 cessfiil collectors become expert through great patience 

 and perseverance in watching birds and studying their 



