The Ordinal Drawer, Showing Eggs of 30 Living Orders. Case IX, Drawer 8, Main Building 



The phrase "complete representation" requires special emphasis. In a field embrac- 

 ing, say, twenty thousand natural species, it is idle to speak of comparison or a science 

 of comparisons before the bulk of available material has been assembled. Exceptions 

 in nature do not prove rules, they overthrow them, and set up others more comprehen- 

 sive. Our task is not done, nor can oology speak with final authority, until all the evi- 

 dence has been assembled. 



"Complete representation" also means a great deal more than the securing of a 

 single example of the eggs of each bird species. Variation in nature, its presence or 

 absence, its range within the limits of a species, and, above all, its causes, — these are 

 problems to the solution of which comparative oology especially addresses itself. A 

 complete representation, therefore, of variable material is an impossible ideal, for it 

 expi esses totality. We should rather say a sufficient representation; and such suffi- 

 ciency will depend entirely upon the degree of variability exhibited in the case of each 

 species. Mourning Doves' eggs are pure white, without deviation in color; and a dozen 

 sets showing variation in shape and size will be deemed sufficient material, probably for 

 all tim-e. California Jays' eggs, on the other hand, are highly variable in color, and to a 

 series of forty sets showing the range of this variation, may possibly be added a group- 

 ing of forty series from as many localities, to establish whether or not the degree and 

 quality of variation is dependent upon local conditions. This is a large and, fortun- 

 ately, exceptional order. 



On the other hand, it will never be our policy to acquire, or having acquired, to 

 keep, mere quantities of material. We are after the significant only. Every set of eggs, 

 every nest, every bird-skin retained by the Museum of Comparative Oology must have 

 a meaning, a niche, a place of its own. It must be significantly or justifiably different 

 from any other object on hand, or else we shall plan to pass it on. Judged by current 

 museum practice, this is a severe rule and one difficult of application. Many museums 

 hoard all they get, irrespective of value, and to present to such institutions a series of 

 duplicates is to inter them for all time. Such practice is abhorrent to us as being both 

 selfish and witless. Other institutions may need these duplicates, and might exchange 

 valuable and significant material for them. 



But great caution is necessary here, caution and sound judgment. Some series of 

 eggs are valuable as establishing uniformity. We have a drawer of twenty sets of 

 Santa Cruz Island Jays' eggs, which we prize precisely because they do not vary. They 

 are straight run, and serve to prove close stock, or inbreeding, in the case of the Santa 

 Cruz Island Jay. But such a demonstration would be unnecessary in the case of the 



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