88 



THE OOLOGIST. 



possession of one or two specimens of 

 each species. In my own experience I 

 have found the collecting and prepar- 

 ing of a single specimen to impress the 

 identification of the species more firmly 

 on my mind than would the casual ex- 

 amination of many. Had there ap- 

 peared less necessity for the making of 

 limitless series, many students would 

 have felt justified in forming such nar- 

 rowly limited collections. Some there 

 would ever be whose convictions in the 

 matter would never have permitted 

 their doing this much even (and most 

 fortunate it is that there are such,) but 

 the knowledge obtained by those who 

 availed themselves of this privilege, 

 enabling them to observe intelligently 

 along the many avenues of study of the 

 living bird, would produce results 

 whope value has, I thiDk, never been 

 equal ied by the deciding of the question 

 of whether a slight shade of color or a 

 trifling extra length of bill i in a local 

 form, entitled it to sub-specific recog- 

 nition, and the proud honor of bearing 

 in its fri-nominal appelation the dis- 

 tinguished name of a "scientific" orni- 

 thologist. 



"Of all sad words of tongue or pen, 

 The saddest are it might have been." 



But to lhose bird-lovers who are out- 

 side the tidal wave of classificatory en- 

 thusiasm, I think there is a gleam of 

 light through the gloom, a promise of 

 better times. I base this idea chiefly on 

 two suppositions: Up to the present 

 time the ranks of American ornitholo- 

 gists have been very largely fLled by 

 the young men who as boys were rob- 

 bers of birds nests. Looking back over 

 our earliest efforts we cannot otherwise 

 class them. The teachings in the 

 schools and the influence of the Audu- 

 bon Societies will, I believe supply to 

 the coming generations a different sort 

 of raw material for the ornithological 

 ranks. Moreover the fiercer a fire 

 burns the sooner it burns» itself out 

 from exhaustion of fuel oa which to 



feed. There is a limit to the extent to 

 which hair-splitting classification can 

 be carried; there is a limit to the mag- 

 nifying power of lenses. And it cer- 

 tainly looks as though that limit was 

 not only in sight but right at hand, that 

 even the powerful lenses in the orbs of 

 the most pronounced hair- splitter would 

 soon fail to detect material for his 

 methods. When this time shall be 

 reached, and the field of classificatory 

 American ornithology is acknowledged 

 to be practically exhausted, when the 

 last shadow of a chance for a new sub- 

 specific recognition has passed and 

 there is no longer a gleam of 

 hope for the perpetuation of 

 a name in the '"halls of famo "scien- 

 tific" ornithology. I hen perhaps we 

 may hope that these zealous workers 

 in an over-tilled field may join with the 

 younger and rising generation of stud- 

 ents in giving attention to the long 

 slighted and neglected fields of study of 

 living birds, and it may be thn.t their 

 attention once so directed, they will 

 find with surprise that in this, to them 

 new field, there is room for the special- 

 ist to devote special effort, and that al- 

 most boundless vistas of possibilities 

 open up in this field of "unscientific" 

 ornirhology, for the increase of exact 

 knowledge 



Habits are iron bands, and 1 suppose 

 it is too much to expect that many will 

 renounce these wasteful and dangerous 

 methods, or speak a word of encour- 

 agement in behalf of the gentler, more 

 promising ones, un il the dawning of 

 the ornithological millenium, but with 

 or withou' their approbation, I firmly 

 believe this is sure to come. 



The great pity is that when it comes 

 some of the species which today furnish 

 us with a boundless mine of knowledge 

 and pleasure, may have pa c sed on to 

 j jin the ranks of the Great Auk and the 

 Labrador Duck, forever beyond the 

 power of rejoicing with their lovers 

 over the happy change in the methods 

 of ornithological study. 



B. S. Bowdish. 

 50 W. 98th St., New York. 



Note:— Since writing the Pbove two 

 articles in the April Auk on "Geog- 

 raphical Abrasion," and "The Seasonal 

 Change of Plumage of the American 

 Goldfinches," gives additirnal indica- 

 tions of the coming of the new era. 



