UP-TO-DATE SPECIES MAKING 



THE ornithological world is peopled by two 

 classes of human beings. There are those 

 who study nature inside the museum with 

 the microscope and the scalpel ; and there 

 are those who love to observe birds in the open and 

 study their habits. The former, if kept in their place, 

 perform a very useful function, for they co-ordinate 

 and elaborate the observations of the field naturalist. 

 They should be most useful servants to him. Unfor- 

 tunately these museum men are growing very powerful, 

 and, like trade unions, are beginning to dictate to their 

 masters. Indeed, they bid fair to become the masters 

 and turn the field naturalists into their slaves. The 

 chief aim of the arm-chair or museum ornithologist 

 appears to be the multiplication of new species. Nowa- 

 days more species seem to be brought into being by 

 these men than by natural selection. When they are 

 not manufacturing new species, they are tampering with 

 those that already exist. 



I have repeatedly had occasion to speak of the marvel- 

 lous, kaleidoscopic changes undergone by ornithological 

 terminology — changes which are the despair of the field 

 naturalist. I am not a statistician, but at a rough guess 

 I should say that every species of bird has its name 

 72, 



