THE BAY STATE OOLOGIST. 



Instructions for Collecting and Preserving Birds and Eggs. 



BY PROF. |. A. S INGLEY, GIDDINGS, TEXAS. 



{continued from /»*(/>- 20.) 



He will mark every egg of that set 3763^, using a soft pencil, making legible figures, 

 not too large, and putting them close to the hole in the egg. Never deface an egg 

 by writing the date on it; the above is all that is admissible on a first-class speci- 

 men, and accompanied by the data is all that is necessary. If the collector re- 

 serves only one egg of the above set, sending out the others to correspondents in 

 exchange, every egg sent out should be accompanied by a data, a copy of the orig- 

 inal one made out for the set. 



A few words now about forming a collection. Are you collecting haphazard, 

 anything and everything, just so you can say that you have more eggs than the 

 ''other fellows?" If you do collect in this way, I'd advise you to quit at once. 

 Do you collect, getting only the prettiest eggs, and having them under glass to look 

 at? The Bower Bird of Australia, builds bowers and ornaments them with pearl v 

 shells, bright colored feathers and other decorative material, and no doubt derives 

 as much benefit from its collection as the collector who wants only the "prettiest" 

 eggs. If you collect, however, to learn something from your collection, to make 

 comparisons between the eggs of different species, to note the variations in eggs 

 of the same species, to study the birds themselves in field, forest and closet; then 

 I say, go ahead, collect in sets and in series of sets, always have your material for 

 study well authenticated and your collection will always possess a scientific value 

 as well as a pecuniary one, and you cannot be classed with the collectors who have 

 been rather inelegantly called "egg-hogs." 



A few words about exchanging and I will close this article. Always use tin or 

 wooden boxes in which to ship eggs. Cigar boxes need a cleat nailed inside on 

 the ends to keep the lid from being broken in. Large boxes will also need a par- 

 tition put in to strengthen the box and obviate packing two many eggs together. 

 Roll each egg separately in cotton and pack them so they will not shake 

 about in the box, but not tight enough to crush them when the lid is put down. 

 Don't put data or other writing in the box if it is to go by mail, and don't nail the 

 lid down, simply tie it with a string. Use some current price-list as a basis of ex- 

 change, and send the data to your correspondent in your letter of advice. Don't 

 wrap thread or tissue paper around eggs after you have wrapped them in cotton. 

 Your correspondent will want to swear if you do, at least the writer hereof lias 



