56 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY. 



nevertheless, the rest become "suspicious,"' aud the whole drawer or box should be quarau- 

 tined, if not submitted to any of the processes described beyond. Our lines of defence are sev- 

 eral. We may mechanically oppose entrance of the enemy ; we may meet him with abhorrent 

 odors that drive him off, sicken or kill him, and finally we may cook him to death. I will 

 notice these methods successively, taking occasion to describe a cahinet under head of the first. 



Cases for Storage or Transportation should be rather small, for several reasons. They 

 are easier to handle and pack. There are fewer birds pressing each other. Particular speci- 

 mens are more readily reached. Bugs must effect just so many more separate entrances to 

 infest the whole. Small liiis are more readily fitted tight. For tlie ordinary run of small birds 

 I should not desire a box over 18x18x18, and should prefer a smaller one ; for large birds, a box 

 just long enough for the biggest specimen, and of other proportions to correspond fairly, is 

 most eligible. Whatever the dimensicjus, a proper box presupposes perfect jointing; but if 

 any suspicion be entertained on this score, stout paper should be pasted along all the edges, 

 both inside and out. We have practically to do with tlie lid only. If the lot is likely to 

 remain long untouched, the cover may lie screwed vei'y close ami tlie crack pasted like the 

 others. Under other and usual circumstauces the lid may be ]ir(.ivided with a metal boss fitting 

 a groove lined with India rubber or filled with wax. An excellent case may be made of tin 

 with the lid secured in this manner, and further fortified witli a wooden casing. Birdskins 

 entirely free from insects or their eggs, encased in some such secure manner, will remain intact 

 indefinitely; bat there is misery in store if any liugs or nits be put away with them. 



Cabinets. — As a matter of fact, most collections are k<'pt readily accessible for examina- 

 tion, display, or other immediate use, and this pi-ecliidcs any disposition of them in "hermeti- 

 cal'' cases. The most we can ilo is to secure tight fitting of movable woodwork. The 

 "cabinet" is most eligible for private collections. This is, in effect, simply a bureau, or chest of 

 drawers, protected with folding doors, or a front tlnit may be detached, either of plain wood or 

 sashing for jianes of glass. It is .simply astonishing liow many birdskins of average size can 

 be accommodated in a cabinet that makes no inconvenient ]iiece of furniture for an ordinary 

 room. A caliinet may of course lie of any desired size, shape, and style. In general it will be 

 better to put money into excellence of fitting rather than elegance of finish ; the handsomest 

 front does not compensate for a crack in the back or for a drawer that hitches. There should 

 not be the sliglitest flaw in the extcrioi-, aud doors should fit so tightly that a puflf of air may 

 be felt on closing them. The greatest desideratum of the interior work, next after close 

 fitting yet smooth running of tlie drawers, is economy of space. This is secured by making 

 the drawers as thin as is consistent M'ith stability ; by having them slide by a boss at each end 

 fitting a groove in the side wall, lnste;iil of resting on horizontal partitions; and by hinged 

 countersunk liaudles instead of knobs. I do not reconunend, except for a suite of the smallest 

 birds, a multiplicity of shallow drawers, acconnnodating each one layer of specimens ; it is 

 better to have fewer deeper drawers, into Avhich light .shallow movable trays are fitted. These 

 trays never need be of stuff over one-eighth or one-fourth of an inch thick, and may have 

 bottoms of stiff' pasteboard glueil or tacked on. They may vary from one-half inch to two 

 inches in depth, bnt this dimension should always be some fiictor <if the depth of the drawer, 

 80 that a certain number of trays may exactly fill it. They should be just as long as one 

 transverse dimension of the drawer, and rather narrcnv, so that two or more are setside by 

 side. Finally, though they may be of difterent depths, they should be of the same length and 

 breadth, so as to be interchangeable. They may simply rest on top of each other, or slide on 

 separate projections inside the dra^ve^. Such trays are extremely handy for holding particular 

 sets of specimens, to be carried to the study table without disturbing the rest of the collection. 



If a. collection be so extensive that any jiarticular specimen may not be readily hunted up. 



