INTRODUCTION. 17 
taken; the bird does not perceive your “touch,” as many 
persons suppose, but one’s hand very often so disturbs the 
nest, and the exact position of the eggs, that the intrusion be- 
comes very marked. As a rule, a nest should never be visited 
from the time of its discovery until all the eggs are laid, and 
an egg should never be taken except from a complete set. 
§ Q. Should you find a nest of value, when you have not a 
box, mark the spot by observing some conspicuous landmark, 
unless it be necessary to take the nest at once. Otherwise, 
carry large eggs, and those taken from a hole or a frail nest, 
wrapped in a handkerchief, and carry small eggs in their nests, 
placed upright, with a handkerchief tied tightly over the whole. 
Packing in either case is desirable, soft, clean moss being 
generally the best material to be found in the woods. 
When a hole is enlarged with a hatchet or, knife in order to 
reach any eggs, the parent almost invariably ‘ deserts,” and it 
is therefore necessary to break it open at the proper time, since 
all or no eggs should be taken from such a nest. In at least 
one of the cases before cited, relating to the Pigeon Wood- 
peckers, the hole was large enough to allow the insertion of 
the hand and fore-arm. This species, however, as has already 
been remarked, frequently deepens the hole to lay again; so 
do other woodpeckers. 
§ R. Health, energetic perseverance, honesty, experience, 
and moderation, are the necessary qualities or cardinal virtues 
of a wise and successful collector. It is for young odlogists 
an excellent rule, which has, however, many exceptions, never 
to take more than one egg from a nest, nor to have more 
than two or three of one species, except when (very) rare, 
peculiarly marked, or suitable for an advantageous exchange. 
3 
