Communications 143 



COMMUNICATIONS 



THE WORK OF THE WILSON CLUB 



The question is frequently asked of me by our new members 

 to define, in my capacity as Secretary, just what is the definite 

 work and aim of the Club. As the i-ecipient of a considerable vol- 

 ume of correspondence from our membership, perhaps I may be 

 pardoned for this communication and the ideas set forth. 



Among our membership are all sorts and kinds of students of 

 bird life, ranging from those who are interested in the so-called 

 "popular" side of bird study to those who have attained distinc- 

 tion in technical and taxonomic work. Assuming that the major 

 trend of our \vork should conform to the interests of that large 

 and substantial body of members who have supported the Club 

 through the " lean years " of its existence, it would seem that our 

 ideal work is the detailed, serious and accurate study of our na- 

 tive birds. True as it is that many volumes have been written on 

 the subject and that the several ornithological magazines have 

 published thousands of pages of valuable contributions on the 

 habits of birds, yet none but the misinformed would say that the 

 subject had been exhausted. The formulating of an accurate local 

 list should be the backbone of the woi-k of every observer and this 

 task will requii'e constant revisions and additions as years go by. 

 The annotations to such a list represent the cream of the ornitholo- 

 gist's W'Ork and should contain only accurate and substantiated facts 

 as to the breeding oi' other occurrence of the species at all sea 

 sons. Such a list should not be rushed into print for obvious rea- 

 sons. Supplementing this work it has well been recommended that 

 the observer should specialize on some particular phase of bird 

 study. This may be migration, nesting habits, distribution, bird 

 banding, research, economic investigation or detailed studies of 

 the life histories of certain species. Almost without exception we 

 are hampered by lack of time in our pursuit of bird study. With 

 most of us only recreation hours from our bread and butter strug- 

 gle are available. For this reason it is well to specialize in order 

 that whatever phase of bird study we undertake may be well done. 

 Most commendable indeed is the observer who balks at no hard- 

 ships in his efforts to secure accurate and complete information 

 and who possesses the energy and ability to put the result of his 

 work into print where it will be readily available for the use of 

 others. I have known of men who have spent the better part of 

 a lifetime afield and who have built up wonderfully complete orni- 

 thological collections, including much rare material; yet these men 

 are practically unheard of. They contributed but little to our 

 fund of information on bird life either because they kept no sys- 



