


Soh Ae EN tne car a AS CER eH hu HP te a 
CT ee ahd eee eae 
Pile spanks hi f , ‘ wre, ‘ MA ithe Rein hy 
- 4 a a yas atiall LNae 
t t \ ce, 
46 ‘REGISTRATION AND ,. LABELLING. 
good smooth paper; but smaller may be needed for travelling, 
even down to a pocket note-book. I would not advise a multi- 
plicity of books, splitting up your record into different depart- 
ments; let it be journal and register of specimens combined. 
(The registry of your own collecting has nothing to do with the 
register of your cabinet of birds, which is sure to include a pro- 
portion of specimens from other sources, received in exchange, 
donated, or purchased. I speak of this beyond.) Ihave found 
it convenient to commence a day’s record with a register of the 
specimens secured, each entry consisting of a duplicate of the 
bird’s label (see beyond), accompanied by any further remarks 
I have to offer respecting the particular specimens; then to go 
on with the full of my day’s observations, as suggested in the 
last paragraph. You thus have a ‘register of collections” in 
chronological order, toed off with an unbroken series of num- 
bers, checked with the routine label-items, and continually 
interspersed with the balance of your ornithological studies. 
Since your private field-number is sometimes an indispensable 
clew in the authentication of a specimen after it has left your 
own hands, never duplicate it. If you are collecting other ob- 
jects of natural history besides birds, still have but one series 
of numbers; duly enter your mammal, or mineral, or what- 
ever it is, in its place, with the number under which it hap- 
pens to fall. Be scrupulously accurate with these and all other 
Jigures, as of dates and measurements. Always use black ink ; 
the ‘‘fancy” writing-fluids, even the useful carmine, fade sooner 
than black, while lead pencilling is never safe. 
§29. Lapettinc. This should never be neglected. It is 
enough to make a sensitive ornithologist shiver to see a speci- 
men without the indispensable appendage—a label. I am 
sorry to observe that the routine labelling of most collections 
is far from being satisfactory. A well-appointed label is some- 
thing more than a slip of paper with the bird’s name on it, and 
is still defective, if, as is too often the case, only the locality 
and collector are added. A complete label records the follow- 
ing particulars:—1. Title of the survey, voyage, exploration, 






