








112 CARE OF A COLLECTION. 
and quiet—they do not like to be disturbed at their meals, — 
nor even between times. So it results, that they rarely effect __ 
permanent lodgment in a collection that is being constantly — 
handled—though the doors stand open for hours daily, they 
will seek elsewhere. As a consequence, the degree of our 
diligence in studying birdskins is likely to become the measure 
of our success in preserving them. I once read a work, by an 
eminent and learned divine, on the ‘‘Moral Uses of Dark 
Things,” under which head the author included everything 
from earthquakes to mosquitoes. If there be a moral use in 
the ‘“‘dark thing” that museum pests certainly are to us, we 
have it here. The very bugs urge on our work. 

