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Excerpt from Collecting and Preparing Study Specimens of Vertebrates
Head each notebook page with collector's name and year, page number (if number system is used), locality (in detail the first time used), and date.
Write full notes, even at risk of entering much information of seemingly little value. One cannot anticipate the needs of the future, when notes and collections are worked up. The following are suggested topics, but do not restrict yourself to these alone. Be alert for new ideas and new facts.
Describe vegetation (saving plant-press samples of Species not positively known), nature of ground, Slope exposure, and drainage in each belt of animal life sampled. Describe exact location of trap lines, referring to your topo graphic maps, and also enter a sketch, in profile or surface view or both, to illustrate the location and relations of the different habitats crossed. Properly marked maps for each region worked Should ultimately be bound in with the field notes of at least one member of your field party.
Keep full record of breeding data: number and approximate Size (length) of embryos or of young found in nests. Dig out burrows if practicable; make drawings to scale, showing plan, and elevation; describe fully.
Record food plants; keep Specimens for identification where not known by a definite name; preserve contents of cheek pouches and stomachs. If these are not saved, identify and record contents.
Note regularly in notebook all pick-ups, that is, odd skulls or fragments of animals of whatever sort or source, serially numbered along with specimens of the more usual sort. Give full information, as with odd skulls secured from trappers. Label all such specimens adequately, as elsewhere described.
When leaving a well-worked locality, enter in the journal section of your field notes a summary of Species observed, with remarks of a general nature, relating to local conditions of terrain, human activities, and other pertinent conditions.
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