Cea | PatMER, Personalia in Ornithology. 445 
PERSONALIA IN ORNITHOLOGY — REPORT OF THE 
COMMITTEE ON BIOGRAPHY AND BIBLIOGRAPHY .! 
BY T. S. PALMER. 
THE term ‘personalia’ is employed in several foreign journals 
to include biographical notices, accounts of collecting expeditions 
and personal notes regarding the activities of ornithological workers 
in the museum or in the field. Such data though brief are not only 
interesting, but often of much historical value in shedding light on 
the progress of ornithological science. Too little attention has 
hitherto been paid in this country to the personal side of orni- 
thological activity, or to the circumstances under which the speci- 
mens which from the basis of our systematic work have been 
collected. For acentury and a half we have been so occupied with 
the making of ornithology that we have had little time to consider 
the makers of the science. 
If more were known of the circumstances under which certain 
type specimens were collected or described and more facts were 
available regarding the methods of work of early ornithologists 
and the routes of field collectors much of the uncertainty concern- 
ing the type localities of some species would disappear and some 
of the troublesome questions in synonymy would be cleared up. 
The time is at hand when more information along these lines 
will be demanded. In revising groups of birds it becomes neces- 
sary to review the results of earlier workers to ascertain where 
the specimens were collected, in order to determine the type locali- 
ties of these species and tell whether or not they were different from 
the material under examination. With the greatly increased popu- 
lar interest in ornithology there is also a demand on the part of 
teachers and general readers for more information regarding the 
personal side of bird study, for details which will make an author 
mean something more than a mere name, which will make him 
stand out as a human being and which will answer inquiries regard- 
ing his appearance, personal characteristics and methods of work. 
1 Presented at the 34th Stated Meeting of the A. O. U., Philadelphia, Nov. 16, 1916. 
