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THE OOLOGIST 



body else may have just your initials.) 

 A few words about paper stock. 

 Words could hardly express my posi- 

 tive hatred of cheap, flimsy cottou 

 paper for use in the making of data 

 blanks. If I were a smoker, I surely 

 would, when sending my order to the 

 printer, go without smoking for a 

 week, two weeks if necessary, and 

 stipulate the very best of rag paper 

 for the stock to be used. I suppose 1 

 have for some fifteen instances, during 

 the past few months, taken time need- 

 ed for other tasks to paste flimsy, 

 nearly-worn-in-two little data forms to 

 a backing of linen paper of the above 

 indicated size. 



Another word about over-large data 

 forms; I am confident that some of 

 the printed items on eight-inch datas, 

 with over-wide margins, moreover, 

 could well be spared; or at least run 

 over onto filler sheets. The over- 

 large datas do not file easily; some- 

 times cannot be filed, serially, at all, 

 and they almost invariably come to 

 one folded. Now if I were not, as one 

 of my new, delightful California cor- 

 respondents has denominated me, a 

 'Man of God," I should be often tempt- 

 ed to swear, and to swear venomously, 

 when I open a letter containing datas 

 that I am anxious to examine, just 

 because they come from fine men, 

 when I open the letter and find the 

 datas folded. When my vexation has 

 sufficiently calmed down, I can only 

 sigh deeply and consign the folder to 

 that Heaven wherein nothing will ever 

 be folded (save as all will be in a 

 fold). To recapitulate: The use of 

 datas always three-and-a-half by six- 

 and-a-quarter inches will make all 

 your correspondents your grateful 

 debtor when they come to file your 

 datas; while the use of over-size en- 

 velopes will obviate the danger so 

 often otherwise occurring of tearing 

 datas in opening the container. About 

 just two very important items that 



must find place in a scientific data: 

 First, the legand, "Identity." Appar- 

 ently even some advanced collectors 

 do not sense the sense of that appar- 

 ently guileless legand. Of course the 

 identity is "Sure" — else you'd never 

 be sending out the eggs. But, how 

 was identity made "sure"? Is it 

 proven by the eggs, by the region, in 

 case of sub-species, or by the call, or 

 the sight of the birds? — one of these 

 four it surely must be, else the eggs 

 are worthless. To illustrate what I 

 mean by "sure." The fakir would as 

 lief lie by saying "sure" as by crying 

 "Nit"; while the use of this over- 

 common word means nothing at all, 

 as ordinarily used. 



Lastly — In the lower right-hand 

 corner of your data form should ap- 

 pear, with an inch of space beyond, the 

 item, "Field Book." 



For, at least in case of all valuable 

 sets, the collector to whom your set 

 will go must enter the title and the 

 Field Book reference in his private 

 record. Thereafter, be it ten, fifteen 

 or twenty years, should he lose the 

 given data, he can always secure a 

 duplicate. In datas, as in all written 

 literature, it is deeply true: "Litera 

 scripta manet." P. B. Peabody, 



Blue Rapids, Kas. 



Collecting In San Diego Bay Region, 

 Year 1922. 

 By Alfred Cookman, Glendale, Calif. 

 During the year 1922 I was a resi- 

 dent of San Diego, California. It was 

 not convenient for me to make all the 

 trips that I had planned and several 

 localities were overlooked. High 

 school teachers cannot get away from 

 their institutions and friends are not 

 always ready to accompany you when 

 "Nature calls the birdman," and the 

 lure of the wild-wood, the tule-bor- 

 dered lake and the jagged cliffs speaks 

 a "various language." However, I did 

 wander away into the back country 



