DONT'S. 



Don't put cotton in direct contact with a nest. The nest will have cotton whiskers 

 forever after if you do, and the patience of man does not suffice for the complete 

 removal of the persnickity things. 



Don't use harsh paper for nest filling. It cannot be made to conform to the rounded 

 sides of the nest, and it will disarrange the delicate lining materials. 



Don't leave the nest hollow without adequate filling. The jar of travel will scram- 

 ble the contents and your nest is worthless. 



Don't treat your nest as if it were a ball and had to be made into an exactly round 

 package, whether it likes or not. The artistic irregularity of a nest's exterior is pre- 

 cisely where its charm and individuality reside. 



Don't, Oh! please don't make nests into square or cubical packages, in utter disre- 

 gard of their actual form. If anybody unloads this kind of trash on you, take it out 

 and burn it. 



Don't pack away heavy nests, woodpecker stubs and the like, with light stuff. The 

 heavies will go charging about in the packing case, and will make hash of the delicate 

 packages. Grade your material according to its nature, and let heavies fight it out with 

 their own kind. 



Don't preserve just the insides of nests. They are of no value whatever. Either 

 collect a nest right, or let the squirrels have it to start housekeeping in. 



Don't handle a nest any more than you can help. Every turn disturbs the lining, 

 breaks off a leaf, or drops a twig out of the foundation. 



Don't break off the twigs that "stick out" a good ways. Pack around them and 

 preserve them if you can. The chance is worth taking. 



Don't unwrap your nest until you are ready to install it in a dust-proof cabinet. A 

 well-wrapped nest will last a long time before requiring attention. 



Don't forget that tell-tale. After you have unwrapped a few dozen nests which 

 have lost their outside labels, onty to be confronted with a similar blank inside, you'll 

 begin to worry. 



Don't treat nests as if they were hats meant to pack one inside the other. I once 

 lost a choice set of eggs because a tyro had jammed one nest inside the other until the 

 brims were exactly flush, thus concealing the eggs in the larger nest. 



Don't crowd nests in the cabinet. They not only lose their shape, but they lose 

 their interest. Give them "sea-room." 



Don't try foolish or fantastic systems of mounting. The simplest methods are the 

 best. Let the nest rest on its own bottom, if it will. If not, bolster it up a little with 

 a small block of wood, a concealed wad of paper, or some simple device. Set nests 

 which have small perpendicular supports, in plaster of paris stained in some modest tint. 



Don't stick nests into brown paper bags. They'll get shaken to pieces. Nests, like 

 ladies' waists, require to be closely supported. Tissue paper well tamped in with the 

 fingers will do the trick in case of nests. 



Lastly, Don't give up if the first aspect of a nest just released from its covers is 

 discouraging. A good deal can be accomplished in the way of restoration by simple, 

 patient manipulation. Square nests can be rounded up, squashed ones fluffed out, and 



AN ABSTRACT OF M. C. O. HISTORY 



It will be the purpose of the "Journal", of which this booklet is a forerunner, to 

 recount the significant events in the growth and activities of the Museum of Com- 

 parative Oology. The field work, especially, undertaken by this institution, togeiher 

 with the record of accessions, and of official actions of the Board, will be recorded 

 in these columns with more or less detail. Inasmuch, however, as the Journal makes 

 its appearance three years after the launching of the Museum, it will be necessary to 

 condense the account of earlier activities, and to present the record, say, in the first 

 four numbers of the Journal — this in addition to an account of current events. Still 

 further, for purposes at least of official and personal reference, the editor has pre- 

 pared the following abstract of important events connected with the upbuilding of the 

 present collection. 



Page twenty-nine 



