SECOND ANNUAL MEETING 89 



proper to the writer that the matter of accuracy in regard to other 

 records might very properly be dealt with at this time. To any one 

 who has had occasion to use local lists of birds, and even state lists, 

 it is very evident that perfect accuracj'^ in observation and perfect 

 honesty of judgment is a rare qualily. It is too easy to jump at con- 

 clusions, and too difficult, if records are not kept with the utmost care, 

 to forg-et within a In-ief space of time the actual facts and be content 

 with an approximation. Too frequently in the case of a list its author 

 is influenced by the judgment of those whose experience and knowledge 

 are greater than his own, but whose work has been done at localities 

 more or less removed, and who are less competent than he to judge, 

 while, on the other hand, many authors of such lists are too ready to 

 record observations that conflict with all that is known regarding the 

 distribution of certain species, owing to ignorance of the factors that 

 enter into the distribution of a given species, and their inability to 

 judg-e of the possibility of extension in the range of the species and of 

 the amount of elasticity to which under certain conditions the limit of 

 range may be subject. 



We live in a state in which, more than in almost any other, the 

 greatest ])ossible care must be taken in regard to the making of 

 records. Our fauual iJosition is such that within our borders is a 

 remarkable mingling of species from different faunal regions; here the 

 eastern and western subspecies meet; here is a transition from the 

 smaller, shorter-tailed and darker eastern forms to the larger, long'cr- 

 tailed and i)aler birds characteristic of the ])lains. And when we turn 

 to the books we are met by the. to us, meaningless "West to the edge 

 of the Great Plains," or "From the Plains to the Paciflc." We must 

 settle ourselves the problems which we see facing us. 



The.se problems must be met and answered in a spirit of scientific 

 accuracy, if our conclusions are to carry weight with those living out- 

 side our borders. We must know what we know and record only what 

 we know w^e know. We must be open at all times to conviction, but 

 at the same time we must subject every fact presented to the most 

 thorough criticism. As a society we must judge kindly, but most criti- 

 cally with the records presented by our members for our considera- 

 tion. To the end that these records may be jiulged most fairly the 

 Avriter has already urged the appointment of a record committee and 

 presented a set of rules to govern the action of the same, and the Union 

 has seen fit to accept the suggestion and to adopt the rules. 



These rules are expected to be applied to the judging of future 

 records. What we have now we must accept as "stock in hand" — some 

 good, some bad, but all held fi)r what thej^ are worth till in the light 

 of our own knowledge we can judge them. The first list of our birds, 

 published by Samuel Aughey in the Report of the U. S. Entomological 

 Commission for 1877, was the work of a pioneer, of whom it was de- 



