The Jay Drawer. Case XII, Drawer 24, The Annex 



Mourning Dove. Therefore, if some patron were to present us with forty sets of eggs 

 of the Mourning Dove, we should ask permission to select six or eight significant sets 

 and to exchange or donate the remainder. But if some one gave us forty sets of 

 Eagles' eggs, we should expect to find twenty significant sets among them; or perhaps 

 the entire lot would be significant, because of localization, or of serial continuity of 

 parentage. 



This is an important point we are discussing, and our friends have a right to demand 

 an exact accounting. While the M. C. O. is constantly offering material in exchange, 

 it has certain rules of procedure which it must abide by. Thus, no eggs will be 

 exchanged unless there are two average examples (sets) left on hand. No series will 

 be broken into; and, in general, no significant eggs will be spared, however large our 

 stock — significant, that is, for us. 



Our next task is the acquisition of birds' nests, nests of every species, nests with 

 the bloom on, nests in series. For, again, we must study all significant material, and 

 determine, so far as possible, the range of variation in habit, instinct, or taste. In some 

 instances we may be able to trace the evolution of an esthetic sense. This too is a 

 large order, but its execution is of the very essence of our plan. So far as limitations 

 of space do impose restraints, even upon us, we expect to devote at least a drawer to a 

 species. So far as we know, we are the only institution in existence which is undertak- 

 ing such a large program of nest collecting, or which is attempting any systematic and 

 thorough-going preservation of the nests of the birds of the world. 



When it comes to the collecting of bird-skins, our ambitions are much more mod- 

 erate. For the present, at least, we do not care to give space to bird-skins in series, 

 nor, to acquire a large number of any one species. We not only recognize the superior 

 claims of other and older institutions which are specializing along these lines, but we 

 desire to defer to them in regard to our own opportunities, and to retain only a few 

 significant examples of each species. So far as we plan to specialize at all in this field, 

 we shall confine our attention to neossology, or a study of nestlings and juvenile 

 changes. In this we earnestly invite cooperation. 



Having defined the matter of our acquisition, a word about the manner may be 

 appropriate. A museum is an insatiable animal, and the M. C. O. is no exception. We 

 want birds' eggs. We need them in our business, and we intend to get them by every 

 means in our power short of fraud and theft. In the words of the immortal Shake- 

 speare, if you have birds' eggs to shed, prepare to shed them now. We will covet them, 



Page sixteen 



