66 BIKDS'-NESTING. 



versal catalogue for all collections, no confusion can 

 arise. Every one, who knows anything about Ameri- 

 can eggs at all, will know at once (or if he did not, 

 it would take him but a short time to discover) what 

 the first free number, "93," means. In exchanging, 

 no confusion of identity can occur, and the least 

 possible amount of re-marking is necessary, since it 

 would probably happen in the majority of cases that 

 you could adopt as your Journal-number the page 

 and letter, or at least the letter, which came upon the 

 egg from your correspondent. Moreover, it incul- 

 cates in beginners a most useful and friendly habit of 

 system and order. All things considered, the plan 

 is superior, in my estimation, to any other method 

 (practicable for all eggs) in at once authenticating 

 and cataloguing the eggs and nests composing a col- 

 lection. 



VALUE OF FIELD-NOTES. 



I call the record-book a Ledger, because it is the 

 careful summary of all field-notes. Your Field- 

 Book is a small pocket volume, which you take out 

 with you, and wherein you jot down memoranda 

 of your discoveries — perhaps in abbreviated form. 

 When you get home you "post" these jottings into 

 the Ledger in proper and legible shape, putting in no 



