Birds. 2133 



advantages of the plan, the beauty of the apparatus, its connexion with a vast steam- 

 engine at work in a distant apartment, and many other particulars highly interesting 

 to the audience, but which would here be out of place : we all admired — all applauded ; 

 and, retiring to my friend's private dwelling, ate a hearty lunch to the success of his 

 machinery. A month elapsed, and I had occasion to call a second time: the appara- 

 tus was still bright and beautiful as ever, but at rest, and the varlet of a stoker — such 

 is the caprice or obstinacy of boykind — was feeding the fire with an old iron shovel 

 that was not worth a shilling. Now to the application ! Mr. Malan's volume of 

 170 pages is well arranged, printed on good paper, well hotpressed, neatly bound, 

 handsomely lettered on the back and side : it is a luxury to possess such a book, 

 and then, moreover, it may be made serviceable ; there is space for inserting all 

 the particulars that the most pains-taking naturalist in the world could wish to make ; 

 but I think for all this he would soon return to his customary pennyworth of labels, — 

 in fact, to the shovel that had already grown old in the same service. However, it is 

 but just to so ingenious a mechanician (the term is more appropriate than ■ author') 

 that he should explain his own machine. — E. N.~\ 



" The object of this Catalogue is, to offer a substitute for the prevalent use of 

 printed labels for eggs. 



"An Oologist who feels how important it is that every egg in his collection should 

 bear a distinctive mark, to prevent its being mistaken for some other species like it in 

 colour or in shape, will have experienced also the great inconvenience which arises 

 from the common practice of labelling eggs, for the purpose of distinguishing them. 

 Not only do labels disfigure the larger specimens, to which alone they are applicable, 

 but they become altogether useless as regards the smaller eggs ; since, in that case, 

 they prove considerably larger than the eggs for which they were intended. Nor is 

 the other method preferable, of writing in ink upon the smaller eggs, either the name, 

 or a number corresponding with a catalogue of the collection. For writing spoils the 

 appearance of an egg as much as a label does ; and in the event of an error, the name 

 or the number cannot be rubbed out without risk of injuring the egg. 



" The following plan, however, may seem to possess fewer disadvantages. To gum* 

 over the hole through which the egg was blown, a round piece of thin white paper, 

 larger or smaller according to the size of the egg ; and on that ticket to write the 

 number of the species in this Catalogue, with its distinguishing letter a, b, or c. This 

 ticket (which may be tinted to match the colour of the egg), thus fixed over the hole, 

 presents the two-fold advantage of adding to the solidity of the egg, by keeping the 

 edges of the hole from chipping; while, in the event of a mistake in the number in- 

 scribed upon it, the ticket may easily be removed with a little warm water, without 

 risk of injury to the egg. And, when by accident an egg thus ticketed has been 

 mixed with other species of similar shape or colour (as may frequently happen in se- 

 veral of the genera), a simple reference to its number in the Catalogue will at once 

 enable the collector to restore it to its proper place in the collection. 



" In the present advanced state of Oology, few collectors wish to limit themselves 

 to only one "specimen of each species ; but all those who collect for a scientific purpose 

 endeavour to obtain, not only all the eggs of one nest, but also varieties of the species ; 



"* Gum arable dissolved in water is preferable for this purpose to either glue or 

 paste ; from its not being liable to be attacked by insects." 



VI 2 A 



