Jhillctiii No. ig. 29 



lists have been taken in such circumscribed areas as a village garden or a 

 water-works pond. A county, however, makes a natural and convenient 

 division for those who find it possible to cover so much ground. Here at 

 Oberlin we try to hold ourselves answerable for Lorain county, bv mak- 

 ing frequent excursions to the most favorable points. 



As an example, I may cite my personal Lorain county horizon for the 

 year 1897. By March 1st, I had recorded 2S species; by June ist, 137 

 species; by Sept. ist, only 139; and by Dec. 31st, 146 species. 



Such annual local horizons are of course valuable for comparison year 

 by year, but their chief value lies in the fact that they enlist and com- 

 pel attentive observation. The obvious mechanical feature is a genuine 

 stimulus to that which has value in itself. 



For a similar reason, an enthusiastic observer will take delight in the 

 growth of his Ufc-horizon. This is, in short, a list of all the birds he 

 knows in the field. It should include only those species which he has 

 actually met and so can identify afield. Now, whereas the accumulation 

 of such a list, if it were merely for the sake of numerical comparison 

 with some rival observer would be as vulgar as a collection of tobacco 

 tags, it may be, on the other hand, if rightly conceived, a source of legit- 

 imate satisfaction. To be able to add year by year to your list of bird 

 friends is no mean ambition. It will incite the student to a careful scru- 

 tiny of his own surroundings and give zest as well to the vacation trip or 

 the change of residence. 



The pleasure of such a life-list grows with increasing knowledge. The 

 new bird, that would be a perfect enigma to the novice, drops at once in- 

 to Its appropriate niche with the man who has a field acquaintance with 

 its congeners. Of course, there is a limit to this sort of thing, — namely, 

 when one knows them all. But this day fortunately is far distant from 

 most of us. Meanwhile, we suspect, the flavor of the "new bird" im- 

 proves to the taste with his increasing rarity. The veteran ornithologist, 

 Dr. Coues, says — and we can almost hear him sighing — "For myself the 

 time is past, happily or not, when every bird was an agreeable surprise, 

 for dew-drops do not last all day; but I have never yet walked in the 

 woods without learning something pleasant that I did not know before. 

 I should consider a bird new to science ample reward for a month's 

 steady work ; one bird new to a locality would repay a week's search ; a 

 day is lutffily spent that sho-L>.'s jyie any bird that I nv7<er saic aliTc 

 b'-forc." To take account of this last is the purpose of the lil\--horizo)i . 



WiLLi.A.M L. D.vwsoN, Obci/i/i, Ohio. 



