but such transactions do not pay any board bills. Wherefore, protectionists 

 and others who would scent mischief in the very issuance of this "Price List," 

 are specifically warned that this is a play, a pretty game among connoisseurs, 

 and that neither the bulwarks of finance nor of conservation are being threatened 

 thereby. 



The Editor and the public, no less than the Committee itself, are to be 

 congratulated upon having secured the services of Mr. W. E. Clyde Todd in 

 proof-reading the text of the list proper. His work has been well done, and his 

 accomplishment marks a pleasing contrast with the slovenly typography which 

 has so long marred the "Oologist," and which leers at us elsewhere in the volume 

 under consideration. That Mr. Barnes has neither time nor patience to proof- 

 read his own text is no reason why he should leave the task to the office boy. 



The equipment of half-tones, chiefly full page, which are designed to 

 illustrate current practice in oology tell an eloquent and instructive story to 

 those who are able to read. Illustrations of how not to do it are slightly in ex- 

 cess of those whose example may safely be followed. Crowding is the generic 

 fault of most collections, and for this, in spite of the popular fallacy, there is no 

 excuse. In the last analysis a man has no right to the possession of anything 

 which he cannot or does not put to use. This axiom is especially patent where 

 the article or material in question is in effect a gift of the body politic, a something 

 handed over, or allowed to be appropriated, by the social whole. The privilege 

 of collecting birds' eggs is such a social concession, and only those have a right to 

 collect birds' eggs who have ability enough or taste enough or determination 

 enough to put their acquisition in service. 



Now while it is debatable how much service to science the average private 

 collection may render, there can be no doubt that it owes an immediate service 

 to beauty. The outstanding disgrace to "the profession" is not that the scattered 

 grains of scientific truth are not gathered up — some competent person will attend 

 to that, in time, if the material is well preserved — it is rather that much of the 

 material acquired in the name of science is so wretchedly cared for, or if well 

 preserved so far as physical conditions are concerned, it is still so tastelessly 

 arranged that it has no appeal, no delight, no esthetic value. Some of these 

 "model" exhibits of the Price List are perfect illustrations in point. They are 

 examples of how not to arrange birds' eggs. 



Personally, the writer has no use for any arrangement which erects little 

 partitions between sets of birds' eggs; and he would urge the beauty of the group 

 portrayal on page 33 of the "Price List" (albeit not ideally arranged), a group of 

 sixteen sets of eggs of the Broad-winged Hawk, each spaced off tastefully from 

 its fellows on a single unbroken expanse of cotton, as against that of the fenced-off 

 sets on the opposite page (32), albeit they are very good of their kind. The ever- 

 lasting subdivisions of trays, or partitions, or grooves, or what not, are everlasting- 

 ly distracting. They are not in good taste. 



But passing this, if you will, as a personal idiosyncracy, cannot every 

 one see that the uncrowded spaces of Mr. Jackson's Kite drawer (p. 35) or Mr. 

 Carter's Shore-bird drawer (26), are infinitely to be preferred to the chaotic jam 

 attributed to Dr. Perry (p. 29) . And is Mr. Barnes so hard up for space that he 

 has to crowd some 625 eggs of twelve species into one drawer, say a yard square 

 (p. 21)? And he is proud of it — that is the point. These are model drawers! 



Scarcely to be commended, either, is the bizarre practice of Mr. P. G. 

 Howes of setting eggs in plaster and affixing them to the wall. Mr. Howes' skill 

 is unquestionable, and his handiwork is exquisite; but for all that, one feels that 

 these eggs are forever falling out of bed; and it gives — well, it gives one the colly- 

 wobbles. 



Not unnaturally, the question of nests is considered less important in the 

 Exchange Price List. Nevertheless, the two examples allowed are exceedinglv 

 instructive. A drawer of 24 nests with eggs collected and arranged bv Verdi 

 Burtsch (p. 28) displays excellent taste. The nests are spread apart, and although 

 the "setting" of some is scanty, there are others collected and preserved with 



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