84 Recent Literature. 



merits made, n mticli pmvcr responsibility than our young friend imnj,'ined 

 when lie undertook the task. Being somewhat fiiniiliar with the re^^lon 

 to whii-li tliis list pei-tains, I was riiiuested to review it for the I'nlletin, 

 which circumstance led me to make inquiries of its author conoeriiiiii; 

 ahout seventy of the si>ecies therein mentioned. Of this nuniher he had 

 the candor to admit that ahout thirty were included upon no grounds 

 whatever, while some twenty more were taken from Dekay (and some of 

 the.se were not known l>y DeKay, according to his own statements, to 

 occur at all in New York State, and nearly all the others were known to 

 him only from the vicinity of the coast, — far beyond the limits of " Cen- 

 tral New York "). Quite a iiumlx'r of others rest on the strength of statc- 

 ment.s made by wliidly unreliable boys, who thought they hail " seen " the 

 bird in f|UCstion ! On the other hand, some few species were in.serfed on 

 the authdiity of |)erfectly reliable collectors (Ronieyn B. Hough of Low- 

 ville, and Fred. J. Davis of Ulica) ; but since the author did not see lit to 

 mention authorities, it is impossible to discriminate between tnitli aii<l 

 error, and he must be held responsible for the whole. Aljove are the facts; 

 I refrain from comment. It is due the author, however, to state that the 

 " List " was prepared in great haste while the " Directory " (in which it a])- 

 pears) was passing through the press. He is now but "too well aware of 

 its imperfections," and when ne.\t he favors us with a contribution it will, 

 no doubt, K' worthy of a far ilifTerent criticism from that which it has 

 been my duty to give in this instance. 



A word about local lists in general : There is, I fear, among our 

 younger and less c.^periencefl collectors a strong and lamentably conta- 

 gious tendency to rush into print before having become sufficiently famil- 

 iar with the habits, distribution, and relative abundance of our birds, to 

 be capable of preparing a creditable pa]ier. Thus it is that very truthful 

 and well-meaning jjcople are .sometimes led to display their ignorance in a 

 most unnecessary and unfortunate manner. And it sometimes happens 

 that less conscientious observers, who have not yet learned the impor- 

 tance of substantiating their own statements, or failing to recognize the 

 value of exact data, so far forget themselves as to yield to the temptation 

 of swelling their lists by the aildilion of species concerning which they 

 know absolutely nothing. Mistakes are always liable to occur in human 

 productions, and are to be expected — yes, may even be looked for, per- 

 haps, with no inconsiderable degree of confidence — in works pertaining to 

 this particular line of research ; therefore, when found, they should be 

 corrected in a .spirit of scieiitilic charity and lenient good-will. But when 

 a man sits down, and in cold IjIochI writes a list of birds on the authority 

 of his own fertile imagination, he must e.xpect to take the consequences. 

 "Bad lists," writes Mr. J. A. Allen, " are, of course, far worse than none at 

 all, and if incompetent aspirants to fame in this direction will make such 

 ventures, it is best, I think, not only for science, but for them personally 

 to show them that such things aie not to lie done with imjiunity." 



