54 BIRDS'-NESTLNQ. 



find whenever you attempt to increase your posses- 

 sions by exchange of property with other collectors. 



It is best on all accounts to keep eggs in sets, a 

 "set" being whatever number were found in a single 

 nest ; and if you are saving the nests — which again 

 let me beg of you to do — undoubtedly the best 

 place to preserve the eggs is in their natural recep- 

 tacle, where a few bits of cotton will prevent dis- 

 astrous jarring. The history of the nest may be 

 written on a label of tough paper and sewn to it. 

 This will not injure it, and there will be no chance 

 of displacement. Each egg in it must be marked 

 as faithfully as those which are separated from their 

 nests and classified in the drawers of the cabinet. 

 The most scrupulous attention must be paid to 

 accurate, complete, and permanent labelling. "So 

 important is this," says Dr. Coues, "that the unde- 

 niable defacing of a specimen, by writing on it, is 

 no offset to the advantages accruing from such fixity 

 of record." 



The most complete method of authenticating eggs 

 is that of writing in ink on their shells, not only the 

 name of the species to which each belongs, but also, 

 as far as the space will admit, many particulars re- 

 lating to the amount of identification to which the 

 specimen was subjected, the locality where, date 

 when, and name of the person by whom it was 



