112 THE OREGON NATURALIST. 
Although I admit that a few great collections 
are of value I still maintain that small ones are 
almost worthless and that many great ones 
would necessarily prove destructive and would 
do more harm than good. 
It is a good thing that Audubon killed birds, 
his extended studies would otherwise have 
proved ineffectual, but if each of his disciples 
killed as many birds as he did there would be 
none left to study. Why should we beginners 
kill birds as he did for purposes of study when 
we cannot draw or paint and when we already 
have the benefit of his Jabors and the labors of 
others like him and could discover no new facts 
if we destroyed all the birds in our neighbor— 
hoods, 
In an article entitled “Outliers Among Birds,” 
in the Popular Science Monthly, Dr. R. W. 
Shufeldt, speaking of the extinction of ce: tain 
species, says that the work of destruction is 
constantly going on all over the world, and 
the time will come when earth’s only inhabitants 
will be man and a few vertebrates entirely 
subjected to his will, Yet when 
‘“‘Birderaft,” by Mabel 
Shufeldt says that it is a book calculated to 
discussing 
Osgood Wright, 
awaken the reader's interest in birds and to 
drive him ‘‘to the works of Audubon, Wilson. 
Baird, and a host of their kind; to the haunts 
of nature; and, finally, to the gun store,” 
seeming to imply that a gun is a positive 
necessity to every bird student. 
J am pretty sure that we are all glad that 
Dr. Shufeldt has used a gun, just as we are 
glad that Dr. Keen has practised vivisection, 
but what is necessary and important with those 
trained scientists would be needless cruelty 
when practised by those who could make no 
new discoveries in that way. 
Where critical comparisons and 
dissections are needed the mass of students 
must of necessity rely upon the authority of 
experienced prfessionals. This fact does not 
minute 
by any means excuse the amateur or beginner 
from the du'y of making original investigations, 
Collections of facts are far more important 
than collections of eggs or of stuffed ly'rds, 
and new discoveries are possible for almost: 
every student without the destruction of the 
objects studied. 
All such discoveries, to be made really useful, 
should be duly recorded with pen or camera 
and sept to some scientific journal that they 
may reach other investigators who need them 
for reference and comparison. 
ANGUS GAINES, 
Vincennes, Indiana, 
ONE DAY WITH OREGON BIRDS. 
BY bse Cite Nive 
ingbreeze 
drifted in at 
my open 
window one 
morning in 
July ’94 and 
awakened 
me from prc- 
found slum- 
ber. It came 
like a wing- 
ed messen- 
: ger irom the 
- woods and 
: fields, bear- 
AN ae ES 
ing with the fragrance of blooming flow- 
ers, the invigorating perfume of pine and 
fir and the sweet songs of feathered 
choristers. : 
There was something thrilling and cap- 
tivating in every breath, something grand 
and significant that kindled the fire of my 
boyish enthusiasm and fil'el mv heart 
with strange, unutterable joy. In-r as- 
ing my fond desire for the pure ai-, er2en 
fields, gorgeous flowers andlight hearted 
birds which years of business had done so 
much to hide from me. 
The passing zephyrs breathed upon | 
the leafy branches and they too responded 
to the call with a gentle tremor of their 
a 
