The Oologist. 



VOL XIII. NO. 5. 



ALBION, N. Y., MAY, 1896. 



VVnoLK Nu. \27. 



The Taking of Notes 



While this subject is being spoken of 

 iu these columus I would like to make 

 a few remarks upon the subject. Not 

 that J consider myself capable of giving 

 pointers to our old workers; but I 

 would like to impress upon beginners 

 (and perhaps a few others also) the im- 

 portance of putting down what we 

 have learned in a form that may be of 

 use to others after us and an aid to our- 

 selves while we are still here. 



It is a debt that we all owe to science. 

 After deriving beuetit from Audubon, 

 Wilson and others it is our boundeu 

 duty to endeavor to add our little mite 

 to the general fund of knowledge. I 

 do not mean that we should rush indis- 

 criminately into print and publish 

 books; for there is not one in two hun- 

 dred who know enough new and valua- 

 ble to till even the smallest book. But 

 we should keep a note book and try to 

 make it the repository of all our knowl- 

 edge. 



A great many of our notes may, at 

 the time, seem worthless but that is no 

 sign that they always will be so. The 

 most unlikely note may some day turn 

 out to be the solution of a vexed prob- 

 lem. Facts seeming commonplace at 

 the time of their occurrence may, by 

 the lig'it of future observation, be of 

 great >.rih. Therefore, take notes, 

 copi .!> notes. The largest percentage 

 of tii< 111 will be trash, but it every work- 

 er K arns one new fact the result, on 

 the whole will be great. 



The next important cocsideralion is, 

 in what form shall the notes be kept? 

 The problem here is to put all we know 

 in such a form as to be most easily 

 worked upon, so that we can find a re- 



quired fact with the least expenditure 

 of labor. There are two ways general- 

 ly used for note books. One is to keep 

 a sort of running journal of each day's 

 work, another is to put down the notes 

 on each species in a certain space prov- 

 ided for that bird alone and where 

 no foreign matter is allowed to intrude. 

 These two ways are both open to ob- 

 jections. In the first, finding all our 

 notes on a certain bird necessitates 

 searching ihrough all our notes, those 

 pertinent and those not. The second 

 obviates this, but then, how can we 

 compare seasons or do other such w ork 

 without infinite drudgery? 



I have a system of note-keeping that 

 gets around these difficulties. I use 

 two note books. In No. 1 I keep a 

 rjcord of every day's notes logetter 

 with a migration list and a weather 

 chart. The latter, I think, is impor- 

 tant showing, as it does' the effect of 

 climatic influence on the birds. I indi- 

 cate the temperature by a wavy line 

 and the other conditions, such as wind, 

 snow, rain, etc., by difl'erent ciphers.' 

 Thus a plan of the whole season is laid 

 before me, which I can take in at a 

 glance. My second volume is divided 

 off into spaces, one for each species 1 

 am likely to meet with, and a number 

 of pages allowed for at the end to put 

 "unexpected finds." The headings for 

 the species are, of course, inserted ac- 

 cording to the class if in order. Into 

 this book I "post" the notes from my 

 first volume. In this way I have every- 

 thing so that I can put my hand on it 

 with the least amount of trouble. 



I make it a point to write out my 

 journal immediately on returning from 

 a trip, while the facts are fresh in my 

 memory. The posting can be done at 



