EDITORIAL. a 



the country have promised their co-operation when such 

 an enquiry is set on foot, so that we look forward to being- 

 able shortly, with the help of other readers, to prove the 

 plan. 



Of late years photog-raphy has come greatly to the fore 

 as an adjunct to science, but ornithologists have been led 

 away to a great extent by the charm of being able to take 

 portraits from life of their favourites, and have used the 

 camera more as a picture-maker than as a scientific re- 

 corder. We confess to a great liking for illustrations in a 

 journal, but we are anxious that our illustrations shall in 

 every case possess scientific merit, although they need not, 

 for this reason, lack pictorial effect. There are many 

 directions in which photography can be made of great 

 service to ornithology ; a photograph of the environment 

 of a nest is, for instance, often of more value than one 

 of the nest itself, and similarly, photographs of birds in 

 attitudes such as flying, feeding, courting, hiding, nest- 

 building, or otherwise engaged, are of more value than 

 pictures of birds in repose. The importance of collecting- 

 photographic evidence of living nestling birds will be fully 

 dealt with in a future issue of this Journal. 



Besides reviews and notices of books dealing with 

 British birds, we intend to publish each month a list as 

 complete as possible of all the books on the subject which 

 have appeared during the month. 



Such, in bare and brief outline, is our plan, and we 

 appeal to the readers of British Birds for the means of 

 carrying it out. If the Magazine is to do good work it 

 must have a goodly roll of subscribers, and the longer the 

 roll the more work will it be possible to accomplish, in 

 that funds will thereby be provided to enlarge the 

 Magazine and to carry out those enquiries which will add 

 to our knowledge of the life histories of the birds of the 

 British Islands. 



It is with great regret that in our first number we are 

 unable to make good a promise, but owing to great 

 pressure on our space, Mr. W. P. Pycraft's article on 

 " Nestlings " is unavoidably held over. 



The Editors. 



