Excerpt from The Ornithologists and Oologists Semi-Annual, 1889, Vol. 1
Supposing the collector starting out for a day’s collecting: he will need a box filled with cotton, (a cigar box is excellent) a note-book and pencil (climbers such as are used by telegraph men also come in handy.) If the collector takes to heart what I wrote above, he will carefully identify each set of eggs. Suppose the first set he takes is a set of four eggs of the Red-headed Woodpecker the bird seen; nest 20 feet up in an elm tree; If he knows the bird’s number, he would write in his note-book the following short particulars: 1 - 375 - 4 - 20 ft. - elm, and he would mark each egg of the set No. 1. The small end of the egg is preferably the place for these first numbers. The tenth set, .he finds, is a set of three eggs of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo. The nest, eight feet up in a wild plum tree. Here his en tries would read: 104387 - 3 - 8 feet - wild plum. Each of the three eggs should be marked N O. 10. By this method, the first num ber always representing the number of eggs in the set, mistakes are almost impossible. If he saw the bird he should write seen after the last item. If the bird was caught or shot, he can mention it in stead of seen. The last two items explain themselves, and all these items except the first, must enter into the data of the set. It is not necessary to give materials Of nest, except in the case of rare species. I follow the above method of authenticating to save time; but the collector who has plenty of that commodity to spare, can of course write out full particulars of each set in the field. Never trust to memory in these matters, have it in black and White.
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