104 MISCELLANKOUS PARTICULARS. 



rate, complete, and permanent labelling. So important is this, 

 that the undeniable defacing of a specimen, by writing on 

 it, is no offset to the advantages accruing from such fixity of 

 record. It is practically impossible to attach a label as is 

 done with a birdskin, and a loose label is always in danger of 

 being lost or misplaced. Write on the shell, then, as many 

 items as possible ; if done neatly, on the side in which the hole 

 was bored, at least one good "show side" remains. An egg 

 should always bear the same number as the parent, in the col- 

 lector's record. In a general collection, where a separate 

 ornithological and oological register is kept, identification of 

 egg with parent is nevertheless readily secured, by making one 

 the numerator the other the denominator of a fraction, to' be 

 simply inverted in its respective application. Thus bird No. 

 456, and egg No. 123, are identified by making the former ^Jf , 

 the latter |-|§. All the eggs of a clutch should have the same 

 number. If the shell be large enough, the name of the species 

 should be written on it ; if too small, it should be accompanied 

 by a label and may have the name indicated by a number 

 referring to a certain catalogue. According to the present 

 "Check List" for example, " No. 1 " would indicate Tardus mi- 

 gratorius. The date of collection is a highly desirable item ; it 

 may be abbreviated thus ; 3 | 6 | 72 means June 3, 1872. It 

 is well to have the egg authenticated by the collector's initials 

 at least. Since " sets " of eggs may be broken up for distribu- 

 tions to other cabinets yet permanent indication of the size of 

 the clutch be wanted, it is well to have some method. A good 

 one is to write the number of the clutch on each egg compos- 

 ing it, giving each egg of the set, moreover, its individual num- 

 ber. Supposing for example the clutch No. ;^ff contained five 

 eggs ; one of them would be |-f| | 5 | 1 : the next Jf f | 5 | 2, 

 and so on. But it should be- remembered that all such arbi- 

 trary memoranda must be systematic, and be accompanied by 

 a key. Eggs may be kept in cabinets of shallow drawers in 

 little pasteboard trays, each holding a set, and containing a 

 paper label on which various items that cannot be traced on 

 the shell are written in full. Such trays should all be of the 



