FIELD ORNITHOLOGY 



rate flocks, and often migrate independently of each other ; in this 

 case the males usually in advance. Towards the end of the passage 

 of some warblers, for instance, we may get almost nothing but 

 females, all our sj^ecimens of a few days before having been males. 

 The notable exceptions to the rule of smaller size of the female are 

 among rapacious birds and many waders, though in these last the 

 disj)arity is not so marked. I only recall one instance, among 

 English birds, of the female being more richly coloured than the 

 male — the phalaropes. When the sexes are notably different in 

 adult life, the young of both sexes usually resemble the adult female, 

 the young males gradually assuming their distinctive characters. 

 When the adults of both sexes are alike, the young commonly differ 

 from them. 



In the same connection I wish to urge a point, the importance 

 of which is often overlooked ; it is our jDractical interpretation of 

 the adage, " a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." Always 

 keep the first specimen you secure of a sjDecies till you get another, 

 no matter how common the species, how poor the specimen, or 

 how certain you may feel of getting others. Your most reason- 

 able calculations may come to naught, from a variety of circum- 

 stances, and any specimen is better than no specimen, on general 

 principles. And in general, do not, if you can help it, discard any 

 specimen in the field. No tyro can tell what will prove valuable 

 and what not ; while even the expert may regret to find that a 

 point comes up which a specimen he injudiciously discarded might 

 have determined. Let a collection be " weeded out," if at all, only 

 after deliberate and mature examination, when the scientific results 

 it afibrds have been elaborated by a competent ornithologist ; and 

 even then, the refuse (with certain limitations) had better be put 

 where it will do some good, than be destroyed utterly. If forced to 

 reduce bulk, owing to limited facilities for transportation in the field 

 (as too often happens), throw away according to size, other things 

 being equal. Given only so many cubic inches or feet, eliminate 

 the few large birds which take up the space that Avould contain 

 fifty or a hundred different little ones. If you have a fine large 

 eagle or pelican, for instance, throw it away first, and follow it with 

 your ducks, geese, etc. In this way, the bulk of a large miscel- 

 laneous collection may be reduced one-half, perhaps, with very little 

 depreciation of its actual value. The same jirinciple may be 

 extended to other collections in natural history (excepting fossils, 

 which are alwa3^s weighty, if not also bulky) ; very few birdskins, 

 indeed, being as valuable contributions to science as, for example, a 

 vial of insects that occupies no more room may prove to be. 



What is " A Good Day's Work " ? — Fifty birds shot, their skins 

 preserved, and observations recorded, is a very good day's work ; it 



