THE OOLOGIST 



81 



south, where the birds were plentiful 

 once, but are now gone. Why thej' 

 come and go as they do I can't say, 

 and I would like to hear from brother 

 oologists what, if any, experience they 

 have had with them. It seems like 

 they are breeding farther north more 

 plentiful than formerly, as I under- 

 stand that they are common around 

 Columbia, South Carolina. 



Troup D. Perry Savannah, Ga. 



I 



KARL A. PEMBER 

 The Boston Sunday Herald, of Janu- 

 ary 28th contains a write-up of the 

 egg collection of our friend Karl A. 

 Pember, of Woodstock, Vt., in which it 

 is disclosed that he is the County 

 Clerk of his county, and that he keeps 

 his collection of birds' eggs, the result 

 of thirty years strenuous collecting, in 

 the Court House. 



This write-up is illustrated by a 

 number of half tone photographs of 

 Mr. Pember and some of his experi- 

 ences in his collecting. R. M. B. 



SCIENTIFIC SNOBBERY 

 A subscriber to the Oologist writes 

 us, among other things, "You will 

 note I have discarded all Latin names. 

 Mr. X, of the XX, while he agrees 

 with me that Latin names are being 

 overdone, says he must have them in 

 order that the XX be quoted. Now 

 I wonder who decides that? Not the 

 common every day man, I am sure; 

 but at any rate I do not think I give 

 a c — , whether I am quoted or not. 

 Mr. X also says XX that he cannot 

 see why it should not be just as well 

 for one to use the English names as 

 given in the A. O. U. Check List, as the 

 Latin." 



The above is a fair sample of the 

 feeling existing and growing every day 

 among the ordinary bird students of 

 the country. We suppose that if some 



person should suddenly come upon a 

 colony of nesting birds of some of the 

 varieties in the A. O. U. Check List, 

 whose nidification secrets are at this 

 time now wholly unknown, and should 

 publish his observations, giving com- 

 plete detail and thorough information 

 as to the time, place, location and sur- 

 roundings, as well as accurate de- 

 scription of the materials of the nest 

 and of the contents, including eggs and 

 young, as well as a thorough exposi- 

 tion of the actions of the birds in the 

 vicinity of their nests while building, 

 incubating, feeding and defending 

 their young, and this should be pub- 

 lished by some person who was either 

 not familiar with the last accepted 

 scientific name, which may not have 

 been in use more than a week, because 

 they change with extreme rapidity, 

 this supposed bit of scientific informa- 

 tion, wholly new to the world, would 

 not be quoted, referred to, or regarded 

 simply because of the failure to attach 

 to it some scientific Latin jargon that 

 90% of the people of the country could 

 neither read nor understand. That 

 condition of affairs apparently is now 

 arrived at. 



We have no quarrel with Latin or 

 scientific names, and possibly under- 

 stand them as well as many who feign 

 to make use of them, but we dissent 

 entirely from the doctrine that un- 

 stable Latin scientific names, which 

 are continually subject to change, and 

 are changed, should take precedence 

 over good old fashioned every day 

 English. And the rule suggested by 

 our correspondent is evidently an ef- 

 fort to smother scientific knowledge 

 or at least place all of the obstacles 

 possible in the way of the ordinary 

 every day man, acquiring any part of 

 it or receiving any benefit from it. It 

 is too snobbish in principle to be en- 

 dorsed or used by either real scientists 

 or red-blooded men. R. M. B. 



