224 



THE CONDOR 



Vol.. X 



Where the eggs are singles as in the Guillemots, Puffins, Razorbills, etc., 

 etc., I have glass frames to the drawers, easily fitted and easily lifted; the eggs 

 rest on sheets of cotton wool, in rows with thin divisions of wood separating the 

 rows; in all the other cases each clutch is in a box to itself, glass topped and nearly 

 air-tight, certainly dust proof; the drawers measure 16^ inches by 16^, so that I 

 can get in 6x6 boxes of 2^^ inches, 5x5 boxes of 3 1-8 inches, 4x4 boxes of 4 inches, 

 and 3x3 boxes of 5^ inches diameter. All the boxes in the same drawer are of 

 the same depth and come almost flush with the top of the drawer, but where large 

 and small eggs come in the same family a little maneuvering is necessary which in 

 a large collection is simple. 



I now come to the most important point of all, and that is the labeling; and it 

 is here that I think Mr. Rockwell is at fault; in spite of what he says I feel sure 

 that the triangular label must detract in some way from the appearance of the eggs. 



In the first place I always use 

 round boxes, the name of the 

 species pasted in the inside of 

 the box, close up to the top 

 edge and easily visible. Most 

 of the data is written on the 

 outside of the bottom of the 

 box; for museums as well as 

 private collections the average 

 person does not want data, 

 and anyone sufficiently inter- 

 ested will not mind the trouble 

 of lifting the box (this you 

 can easily do with the round 

 box on account of the spaces 

 between boxes, whereas in 

 the square boxes fitting tight- 

 ly in a drawer it is not so 

 easy), and reading the par- 

 ticulars; these particulars if 

 at all lengthy, could not possi- 

 bly be written on the triangu- 

 ar label. 



All my eggs are entered in 

 my egg-book, each species 

 under a number, and each set having a different set mark. Thus my number for 

 Golden Eagle is 18. The first set would be 18 (and if c-2 both eggs would bear the 

 same mark), the next set would be 18A, 18B, 18C, etc., etc., so that in a collection 

 no two sets would ever bear the same marks. 



All details are entered in the egg-book and some are so lengthy that a card 

 would be of no use, nor, for the matter of that, the bottom of the box either; every 

 egg in my collection is numbered and that number appears on the bottom of the 

 box with data as far as possible, and if any further particulars are wanted it is very 

 easy to refer to the egg- book. 



It may be argued that handling the boxes would be detrimental to the con- 

 tents, but the cotton wool is so arranged that the pressure of the glass lid is suffi- 

 cient to keep the eggs from moving and in fact the glass just touches the eggs; I 

 have found this method very useful in sending eggs for exhibition for lectures, etc. 



NEST AND EGGS OE COMMON TEAL, LONG-TAIIvED DUCK, 



HARIvEQUIN DUCK AND POCHARD, SHOWING 



METHOD OE LABELING 



