i6 The Oologists' Record, March i, 1922. 



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print too many as there can be no doubt but that improvements 

 will be made in the form from time to time. We would like to 

 say at the start that we do not consider the scope of the form nearly 

 complete, but further information can always be noted on the back 

 of the sheets, or follow-on sheets can be used. The forms will 

 be punched for filing in a foolscap loose-leaf binding case, and the 

 prices of the binding cases will also be found on the inside of the 

 back cover. We would add that the form is copyright. 



Works on oology are far too few and frequently omit mention 

 of the chief points in regard to some of the most interesting species. 

 vSpeaking for ourselves, we shall be almost as pleased to receive 

 one of these forms fully, or partially, filled up with regard to species 

 in which we are particularly interested, as to receive a set of the 

 eggs with data. The system opens up a new era in nature study — 

 the collection of oological notes. Had such a system existed in the 

 past, very much valuable autographic material would now be 

 available to the present generation. Oologists who had ample 

 opportunity to record all there was to record about a few rare 

 species, might have been induced to set them down. They could 

 have waited till they had enough for publication or, if they decided 

 not to publish them, they could have handed them over to some 

 institution or society of standing so that they should not be lost. 



It is suggested that all sheets should be filled in in the handwriting 

 of the investigator, who should also sign and date them, but the 

 date might be altered from time to time, thus : " revised, or added 

 to, 27th June, 1923," In making a reference by date, the name of 

 the month should always be given, as in the U.S.A. they put things 

 differently. In the States, 5/6, 1921, very often means 

 not 5th June, but 6th May. Nothing should be left ambiguous, 

 and if a matter is recorded that the investigator has not himself 

 seen or observed, he should state whence comes the information. 

 Many old errors in natural history were passed on from one to 

 another without the last man taking the trouble to investigate 

 for himself. In the future, let us know who started them. - 



Mr. Chance's wonderful investigations into the life-historj' of the 

 Cuckoo have shown what a tissue of fables did duty for recorded 

 fact and, if we were all to start filling in these forms about the 

 birds that we have round us, we should soon see how little we knew 

 from our own observation and to what an extent we relied upon 

 facts recorded by others. 



