THE OOLOGIST 



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The Oologist. 



A Montlily Magazine Devoted to 

 OOLOGY AND ORNITHOLOGY. 



FRANK H. LATTIN, Editor and Publisher, 

 ALBION, N. Y. 



Correspondence and Items of Interest to the 

 student of Birds, their Nests and Eggs, solicited 

 from all. 



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f., AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER. 



Are Ornitholog'ists Cruel? 



BY Charles L. Phillips, Taunton, 

 Mas.s. 

 Cruelty is many times unjustly at- 

 tributed to naturalists, and especially 

 to ornithologists, by thoughtless per- 

 sons. I do not mean to assert that or- 

 nithologists are never cruel, but that 

 the true avian scientists are, as a rule, 

 just as human as many other classes of 

 intelligent men to whgm inhumanity is 

 very seldom imputed. Of course we all 



know that in nearly every walk of life 

 certain persons are encountered who 

 are wantonly cruel. This unfortunate 

 characteristic appeal's to be natural, 

 and further, they do not seem to realize 

 that they possess a tendency which in- 

 duces others, of a more gentle and kind 

 disposition, to judge them harshly. 



But let us revert to ornithologists in 

 general. Are they cruel'' Many will 

 say so hut principally illiterate or shal- 

 low minded persons. Why? Because 

 they do not give the matter logical con- 

 sideration, but speak on the impulse of 

 the moment. Very likely the ornitholo- 

 gist has a deeper affection for his favor- 

 ites of the feathered tribe, a more sin- 

 cere admiration, and would do more 

 for their general protection, than the 

 very ones who call him cruel. In fact, 

 I know he would, and I take my own 

 inner-consciousness as a criterion, be- 

 cause I am an ornithologist, and my 

 thoughts and inclinations are open to 

 my revisions, while those of my fellow 

 lovers of the science are not. Orni- 

 thologists kill birds and preserve their 

 skins, because they have a thirst for 

 knowledge; because they wish to know 

 the birds better than can be done by 

 meandering through their sylvan re- 

 treats and making observation at a 

 distance. 



I think that thirst for knowledge was 

 placed in man by the Creator as an es- 

 sential factor toward progression. And 

 it is just as natural for man to satisfy 

 that craving, as to drink to quench 

 thirst, or to eat to appease hunger. We 

 follow that pursuit, for which we have 

 a natural tendency, and if our brain 

 development leads us to become an or- 

 nithologist, we must sacrifice more or 

 less harmless birds so that we may not 

 only educate ourselves but that we may 

 learn that which will interest others to 

 whom it is transmitted. 



Reptiles, beasts, and birds of prey, 

 hesitate not to appropriate birds by the 

 million annually to satisfy their hunger 



