CHAPTER I. 



On Collecting with a Camera. 



THE reader even at this early stage has been made 

 aware that we have little knowledge of what is 

 generally accepted as scientific ornithology. The 

 reason is a twofold one. In the first place, our tra- 

 vels have been restricted to a comparatively narrow area 

 and, secondly, the problems of nomenclature and sub-division 

 of species interest us not at all. However, we take a suffi- 

 ciently broad view to realise that it is impossible that every- 

 one should view the latter question from our standpoint, and 

 we hope that the contents of this chapter will not be 

 regarded by scientific ornithologists as anything in the way 

 of recrimination. At the same time, we feel bound, in our 

 endeavour to popularise the method of observation which 

 we follow, to point out the advantages, as they appear to us, 

 of photography over the practice of collecting bird skins 

 and birds' eggs. 



The value of collections of bird skins and birds' eggs to 

 the scientific ornithologist lies in the fact that, with a mass. 

 of material before him for comparison, he is able to place 

 the various specimens in what is considered their correct 

 scientific groups. The subdivision of the original groups 

 has been carried in these days to such a point that what 

 appears to the ordinary observer as one species of bird may 

 now be split up into several further divisions or sub-species. 

 The variations, moreover, which distinguish these sub- 

 species are so slight in many instances that a most minute 

 examination is necessary to determine the identity of the 

 specimen — hence its untimely end. Just where the 

 advantage of all this investigation comes in we, as laymen, 

 are unable to say. Certainly we can point to a serious dis- 



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