20 Birds of Oregon and WasJiington 



John Burroughs and others, collecting is dis- 

 tinctly discouraged in this little book, for the 

 following reasons : The true interest, as above 

 indicated, is a living and sympathetic one. And 

 a person imperils this when, for the sake of cabi- 

 net-classification, he takes the life of birds, or 

 robs them of their offspring, even though the 

 offspring is yet undeveloped in the ^gg. Such 

 work, so far as necessary, should be left to the 

 few pure scientists, who, if their hearts are right, 

 will pursue their object with a deep sense of 

 painful necessity, and with the greatest discre- 

 tion. 



It is notorious that bird-collectors are apt to 

 become perfectly ruthless in their slaughter of 

 birds and spoliation of nests — actually stripping 

 whole localities of every ^gg and nest of certain 

 species. This is the natural consequence of 

 substituting an artificial interest for a natural 

 and sympathetic one. 



Our love of birds can never be shown by our 

 mounted collections any more than our love of 

 children could be shown in the same way. 



Then, it is far better to study and identify 

 birds in the fields and woods than in a museum. 



