A WINGED CHUM 159 



servations of the birds lie saw and trying to get 

 near enough to them to take their portraits. 



Another of Shan's keen disappointments was 

 his failure to find any new species. Like a great 

 many beginners, he expected to discover birds that 

 no one had ever seen before. But when he wrote 

 about this to his friend Baker, in Washington, the 

 Biological Survey man replied in his next letter, 



"Don't you worry about not finding any new 

 species. In all probability, you'll never find any. 

 There are a lot of expert ornithologists who spend 

 all their lives observing birds and who have never 

 found a new species. Such a discovery is almost 

 as rare as a great invention. 



** Three years have passed since an actually new 

 species of bird was discovered in North America, 

 including Alaska. It is extremely doubtful, there- 

 fore, if from our Mexican boundary to the Arctic 

 Ocean there remains a single unknown species of 

 bird. You may be sure that every bird you see 

 has been noted and named. 



' ' Should, by any remote chance, you see a speci- 

 men of a bird new to the United States, lose no 

 time, labor or expense in following it. Should it 

 take a month's time, there are dozens of collectors 

 who would willingly pay a high price for the speci- 



