24 The Ottawa Naturalist. [May 



seems best for the majority of us to follow the lead, perhaps 

 under protest, of the consensus of representative opinion as 

 evidenced by our American Ornithological Union Check List'^ 

 though we can reserve to ourselves the liberty of departing from 

 their findings in cases where mature judgment or data justifies 

 it. However, for the sake of uniformity it is better to err on the 

 conventional rather than the radical side and to keep as largely 

 as possible in harmony with accepted contemporary authorities. 



Others, to the contrary, notwithstanding no enduring fauna! 

 work, can be accomplished without the collection of specimens. 

 The field-glass and camera are most valuable auxiliaries, but 

 cannot altogether take the place of a bird in the hand. Due 

 regard must, however, be' given to the principles of humanity. 

 Collecting is a necessarv evil to scientific study and is amply 

 justified bv it, but the responsibility of the collector is great and 

 his influence should be always thrown against the useless killing 

 of anvthing. The collector kills for a good and sufficient reason 

 and should never do it, without that justification. Man, who 

 has been given or has assumed the rights of the earth, should 

 recognize his responsibilities and bear the relation of a guardian 

 to harmless lower life. Our laws recognize this and it is neces- 

 sary for a collector to get a permit from the game warden of his 

 province. This, however, is issued to duly qualified students 

 who should be careful that the privilege is not abused. Nothing 

 should be killed without a good and sufficient reason and when 

 so killed particular care shottld be exercised that the best use 

 possible is made of it and that it is preserved for all times. 



The privilege to collect specimens, the legal property of the 

 people, is granted by the representatives of the people for the 

 benefit and increase of knowledge of the people. Hence such 

 specimens are in a manner public trusts and when once taken 

 should be preserved as such and not for individual gain or 

 hoarding. They should be kept as safely from damage by time, 

 dust, light, insects or accident as circumstances permit and, as 

 the owner has morally but a life interest in them, arrangements 

 should be perfected, so they may be for the present available 

 for study by other workers and finally deposited in some known 

 repository where they will be available to coming generations 

 of investigators. 



The fear that the legitimate collector will deplete our bird 

 life is groundless. Even were the number of our collectors 

 increased many times and stimulated to greatly increased energy 

 they would have a negligible effect. Large collections are some- 

 times pointed to as causes of a supposed reduction in bird life 

 but all the collections in North America, the results of fifty years 



