THE ORNITHOLOGISTS AND OOLOGISTS’ SEMI-ANNUAL. 3 
Identification and authentication are the cardinal requisites in col- 
lecting. A bird or a shell bears its own label; but the science of 
Oology has not advanced to that stage where a species can be deter- 
mined from the egg alone. Never take an egg until you are sure 
what species it belongs to. An unidentified egg is worse than 
worthless : it is of no use to the owner, and it is that much bird-life 
needlessly destroyed. If you find a nest and don’t know the bird, 
secure it, either by snaring or shooting and make a skin of it. Place 
the same number on the eggs and bird and they can then be identified 
at anytime. Directions for making bird-skins will be given further on. 
Supposing the collector starting out for a day’s collecting: he will 
need a box filled with cotton, (a cigar box is excellent) a note-book 
and pencil (climbers such as are used by “telegraph men” also come 
in handy.) 
If the collector takes to heart what I wrote above, he will carefully 
identify each set of eggs. Suppose the first set he takes is a set of 
four eggs of the Red-headed Woodpecker ; the bird seen ; nest 20 feet 
up in an elm tree. If he knows the bird’s number, he would write 
in his note-book the following short particulars : 1—375—-4—20 ft. 
—elm, and he would mark each egg of the set No.1. The small 
end of the egg is preferably the place for these first numbers. The 
tenth set, he finds, is a set of three eggs of the Yellow-billed 
Cuckoo. The nest, eight feet up in a wild plum tree. Here his en- 
tries would read: 10—387—3—8 feet—wild plum. Each of the 
three eggs should be marked No. 10. By this method, the first num- 
ber always representing the number of eggs in the set, mistakes are 
almost impossible. If he saw the bird he should write “seen”’ after 
the last item. If the bird was caught or shot, he can mention it in- 
stead of “‘seen.” The last two items explain themselves, and all these 
items except the first, must enter into the data of the set. It is not 
necessary to give materials of nest, except in the case of rare species. 
I follow the above method of authenticating to save time; but the 
collector who has plenty of that commodity to spare, can of course 
write out full particulars of each set in the field. Never trust to 
memory in these matters ; have it in black and white. 
The collector, having tered home and being ready to prepare 
his eggs, let him take them out of his box where he has placed them 
well wrapped in cotton, as taken, and unwrapping them, place each 
set by itself on the ‘dryer’ described elsewhere (he will now begin 
