THE OOLOGIST. 



211 



Mc kiKiw tliis is a ciisloniiuy pi'actice 

 ■with many collectors and dealers, ])iit 

 it is Ijotli a waste of timt^ and mat«n'ia], 

 and small eggs are I'ar more lial)le to 

 Ijecome broken when nniiacked than if 

 wrapped in the ordinary- manner. 



Pasteboard ])artitions should never be 

 used unless the sender wishes to be re- 

 warded with a lot of ])roken eggs. The 

 same caution might also be given to 

 collectors who are in the habit of 

 throwing in their eggs loosely, either in 

 layers or in bulk. J^arge sea bird eggs 

 can be packed in dry moss, tow, oakum, 

 or similar material. 



Never use bran or sawdirst, it will 

 work in the holes where the eggs are 

 blown and will make tlieni so solid 

 that they Avill jolt together ;ind break. 

 Hundreds of valuable specimens liave 

 b 'en broken every season through im- 

 }M-o]ier ])acking, fully seventy-five per 

 e-.nit. of these breakages could have 

 been avoided if the packers had only 

 used a little more care and judgment. 



Frequently specimens are broken by 

 rough usage and handling in the mails, 

 this of course is no fault of the shipper, 

 but if no agreement to the contrary is 

 mad J, it is an uuwi'itten law, or we might 

 say understanding, that the shipper 

 guarantees sa,fe de!i\'ery and in case of 

 loss l.)y l)reakage the shipper should 

 either re[)laee such specimens gi'atis, or 

 ha\'e their \ahie deducted from the 

 shi])meut, provided, however, that the 

 receiver of the damaged specimens iv- 

 turn the imperfect or broken ones 

 within three days after they have 

 l)een received. 



Useful hints, items, and instuciions 

 are given in the OoloCtIST from time to 

 time, and any question of interest to 

 the collector will be cheerfully answer- 

 ed through its columns. 



Ntinibering Eggs. 



Every collector should mai'k oi- num- 

 ber his eggs and arrang'e them accord- 



ing to either the A. O. U. ("heck List of 

 North America Birds, or aei'ording to 

 Ridgway's Nomenclaiure. To young 

 collectors and beginners it is advisable 

 to use the former, as it is the list ar- 

 ranged and adopted by the American 

 Ornithologists' Union and has w '■ 

 trust C0.113 fc-) st^ay. B.it as th'^re are 

 many large collections nnnd>ered and 

 arranged according to Ridgway's and 

 by far the bulk of the eggs in this 

 country bear the RidgAvay numbers, 

 it will be some time before oiu' older 

 collectors will make the ch ange and 

 give up the No's that are now as famil- 

 iar to them as their A. B. C"s, but the 

 change must ecnne and we would ad- 

 vise c()Hect1)rs to luark all sjjccimens 

 during the coming season, with the 

 A. O. U., No's. 



As it is supposed that you will use, 

 beginning with 1890 at any rate, tlu- 

 A. O. U;, No's, you should mark the 

 specimen with the number given it in 

 that list, wath a soft lead pencil, neA'er 

 ink, making the tigrires small, neat, 

 and plain and placing them on the un- 

 der side of the egg, near the h(»le from 

 which the contents were emptied. 

 Unnatural stains or marks, other than 

 the No. and set-mark, should never be 

 made on an egg and natural ones 

 should never be removed. 



Disposal of Duplicate Specimens. 



Collectors usually dis])os,.' of their 

 duplicate specimens by ext-haiige withi 

 other collectors or with dealers. In 

 both cases some standard list is adopt- 

 ed as a medium or i^asis of exchange, 

 and exchanges with the former are 

 made at even rates and reckoned at 

 the prices given in the list adojited. 

 It frequently hapjiens that a collector 

 obtains some very desirable duplicates 

 of species not easily obtaiiiable and 

 some other collector may be glad to 

 allow him mor(^ than list prices fcjr 

 them, but as price lists of leading 



