May, 1914 A SADLY NEGLECTED MATTER 117 such types are extremely rare, and offer in themselves a large field of research in studying the laws of variation and heredity. Another deterrent factor in the noting of colors is that many collectors distrust their ability in this regard. They assume that a trained eye, a knowl- edge of the various tints, and the names of all the pigments are necessary. This is not the case; all that is needed is the ability to distinguish the ordinary colors. These can be qualified by the simplest of prefixes,---" dark", "light", "dull", "bright", or "intense",--or modified by a terminal such as ' ' bluish" ?o indicate something akin to blue. The description should be as concise and brief as possible; too elaborate details are apt to tangle one up. Also it is hardly necessary to define the color of the eyes of all such small birds that have the ordinary brown iris, nor to record the black bill and feet of most of the Corvidae, for example. It is the divergence from the ordinary type that is noteworthy. Some few collectors make elaborate records of the colors of soft parts in their note books, leaving the label of the particular specimen they make the record from, blank in this respect; this is a method greatly to be condemned; one might almost as well record the sex in this manner, as one never knows the ultimate destination of the specimen in future years--or centuries. Make all records on the label itself; probably the most convenient way is to record the colors of soft parts on the reverse side of the label to that which carries the name, sex, locality, and date. Without these data the specimen is incomplete, a monument during the whole period of its existence to the lack of thoroughness of its collector, no matter how perfect it may otherwise be. Okanagan Landing, British Columbia, March 4, 1914. NESTING OF THE KITTLITZ MURRELET By JOHN E. THAYER ECENTLY I had the good fortune to obtain from Captain F. E. Klein- schmidt, eggs of the Kittlitz Murrelet (Brachyramphus brevirostr?s), together with some interesting information regarding the breeding habits of the bird. I think, although I am not sure, that these are the first authentic eggs of this species. I have heard only of the white eggs, the same as the one already in my collection, which evidently are not of the Kittlitz Murrelet. The egg found on the ground, on the side of Pavloff Mountain, June 10, 1913, has a ground color of olive-lake, dotted all over with different sized
markings of dark and light brown. It measures, in inches, 2.29xl.40. The
other egg, taken from the oviduct of a bird May 29, 1913, is perfectly formed, and was evidently about to be laid. Its ground color is yellow glaucous,. with dark brown spots over the whole egg. The measurements are, 2.46xl.45. The second egg taken from a bird's oviduct was so broken that it could not be me.asured, but color and markings are the same as in the one last described. I have both the females from which these eggs were taken. Payloll Bay and Payloll Volcano, Alaska, where Captain Kleinschmidt's notes and specimens were taken, is near the west end, and on the south side, of the Alaska Peninsula, a little northwest of the Shumagin Islands. This is what Captain Kleinschmidt says:
