150 Tue Stupy oF Birp LIFE. 
products, geological formation, animal, vegetable, and 
mineral products, the habits and personal appearance 
of the people cultivating the soil, state of cultivation, 
etc., before starting out. 
3. Trace out especially, where possible, the various water- 
sheds which go to form the “catchment basins ’’ of the 
rivers. 
4. Watch and observe the living animals, birds, etc., when 
you begin your investigations, and their ways, and do 
not destroy them or take eggs unnecessarily. 
The fourth difficulty is that of getting assistance in the 
identification of- his finds. This as a great difficulty, though 
not so great as it once was. I refer to the identification of both 
dead and living birds. 
It may sound absurd to say that many very well-known: 
ornithologists are very little known, but it is so. 
Comparatively few know any expert to whom they can send 
in case of doubt, and if they do, they rightly or wrongly—for the 
most part rightly—believe he is too great a man to be bothered 
with their small matters (unless he knows something of their 
qualifications previously), and thus, though that expert may be 
well-known, the knowledge of him is purely academic. 
In such a case the enquirer must proceed as best he can by 
stages—by men older than himself in experience though they 
may have no claim to be experts, by papers, and by books; 
but before being perfectly satisfied an expert’s decision must be- 
obtained, however long he has to wait. 
For the ornithologist must remember that in his science 
there must be no “I think,’’ “I’m almost sure,’’ in the matter 
of saying what any particular bird is. Facts and facts only are 
wanted. There can be only “It is.’”? The same applies to what: 
he thinks he has heard. It will satisfy him very well, perhaps, 
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but no one else. “I got a yellowish bird to-day,’’ says one. 
“Tt must be a golden oriole;’’ in fact, after looking at the 
coloured plates, I’m quite sure it is.’’ But I’ll send it to so- 
and-so who’s supposed to be an expert.’’ By-and-by comes the: 
reply, “A Yellow Hammer!’’ And so ad libitum. 
All this comes from the wish to discover rarities or strange 
occurrencies, and, although it is the business of the expert to 
make a special point, among other things, of doing so, it will be: 
