104 ' ‘MISCELLANEOUS 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 thevhole 
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 $3§, 
the latter }22. 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 Turdus 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. 322 contained five 
eggs; one of them would be }22 | 5|1: the next #22 | 5 | 2, 
and so on. But it should be remembered that all such arbi- 
trary memoranda must be systematic, and be accompanied by 
akey. 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 



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