76 



THE OREGON NATURALIST. 



objects are two-fold. In the first place it 

 strives to throw our knowledge of the facts 

 which underlie and are the cause of the 

 similarities discerned, into the fewest possible 

 general propositions, subordinated to one 

 another, according to their greater or less 

 degree of generality; and in this way it answer- 

 ed the purpose of a viemoria technica, without 

 which the mind would be incompetent to grasp 

 and retain the multifarious details of anatomi- 

 cal science." 



"But there is a second and even more import- 

 ant aspect of morphological classification. 

 Every group in that classification is such in 

 virtue of certain structuial characteis, which are 

 not only common to members of the group, but 

 distinguish it from all others; and the siate- 

 ments of these constitutes the group. Thus, 

 among animals with vertebrie, the maMiMALIA 

 is definable as those having two occipital 

 condyles, with a well-ossiiied basi-occipital: 

 which have each ramus of the mandible com- 

 posed of a single piece of bone and articulated 

 with the squamosal element of the skull; and 

 which possess mamma; and non-nucleated reil 

 corpuscles in the blood". 



"But this statement of the character of 

 MAMMALIA is something more than an aihitraiy 

 definition. It does not merely mean that 

 naturalists agree to call such and such animals 

 mammalia; but it expresses, firstly, a generaliza. 

 tion based upon, and constantly verified by wide 

 experience; and secondly a belief arising out of 

 that generalization. The generalization is, that 

 in nature the s.ructures mentioned are found 

 associated together; the belief is that they 

 always have been and always will be found so 

 associated. In other words the definition of 

 the class mammalia is a statement of a law 

 of correlation, or coexistence of animal struct- 

 ures, from which the most important con- 

 clusions are deducible". 



COLLECTORS DIFFICULTIES AND 

 HOW TO AVOID THEM. 



BY MERGANSER 



To the old soldier in the field, to the ex- 



perienced collector, this article does not apply, 

 but to some of the more inexperienced who 

 through lack of knowledge "how to go about 

 it", the following hints may be of benefit. 

 This paper will deal entirely with the bird 

 collector's troubles and should it succeed in 

 running the gauntlet of the editor's waste basket 

 and shears, I will in some future papers 

 endeavor to help some of our brother collectors in 

 other branches, to ''get at 'em' "in the proper 

 manner. Now in the first place to be a good 

 collector, is in itself a very small affair, but to 

 be a good scientific collector, is a great deal. 

 A collector goes out and destroys life to satisfy 

 his longing for a lot of well made skins, to 

 display. A scientific collector, goes out to 

 observe the habits of the feathered denizens 

 of the forest, and destroys a few that he 

 may understand them more thoroughly. But 

 I wander! "Where shall I search for birds ? " 

 I am often asked. I invariably answer, 

 "Every where". 



"When shall I search for them ? 



"Always". 

 "What kinds shall I collect?" 



"All kinds". 

 • But as a matter of fact, we can not search 

 every 7uhcre; we can not search ahvav:; 

 and we cannot collect all kinds of birds. 

 What shall we do then? Why! Choose that 

 locality that affords the greatest variety of 

 topogiapiiical peculiarities, and there you 

 will find the greatest variety of ''fiora" and 

 consequently the greatest variety of birds. 

 Here then is your held. The early spring 

 and the autumn are the best times to collect. 

 Of course I do not mean to collect only in 

 those seasons. One of the greatest difiicullies 

 of the novice; is — strange as it may seem — 

 in finding birds to collect. He may range 

 field, valley and woodland, and when he 

 returns, report nothing but robins, song 

 sparrows and bluebirds. Vou follow liim 

 once and you will see him go crashing 

 through bushes, over rotten stumps and 

 scarcely waiting for a breath. No wonder 

 he is unsuccessful. What bird would stand 

 such a racket? Tell him to sit down for a 

 moment and keep quiet. Mark the change; 

 from here and there appear the birds, and 

 in a short time you have material enough 

 lo keep you busy for a long-time, not mere- 

 ly shooting, but with open note-book observ- 

 ing and writing down actions, notes and 

 hal)its of the little fellows and with a bag 

 full of birds and a book full of notes about 

 them, you have work enough to keep you 

 busily employed till long after the lamps are 

 lit that evening. 



(To be continued) 



