J Go Correspondence. [April 



giving the dimensions and coloration of the eggs by the sets examined, 

 but I did not venture to change the number when given by other writers, 

 lest such changes, based on my limited observation, might prove errone- 

 ous or misleading; but the more I look the matter over, its importance to 

 mv mind increases. I therefore call attention to it, hoping to draw out, 

 through 'The Auk' and other sources, the views of others. — N. S. Goss, 

 Topeka, Kans. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



{Correspondents are requested to write briefly and to the point. Xo attention will 

 be paid to anonymous communications.'] 



The Camera and Field Ornithology. 



To the Editors of the Auk : — 



Dear Sirs: — A year ago last autumn I purchased me a first class photo- 

 grapic camera with all the chemicals and appliances complete. In doing 

 this I had three or four objects in view, in which it struck me that this 

 instrument could be of very considerable assistance. In the first place, I 

 was led to believe that it would prove a valuable auxiliary in my anatomi- 

 cal work, such as the photographing of certain dissections, osteological 

 subjects, and the reduction in size of large skeletons that I intended to 

 have lithographed to illustrate my memoirs. Secondly, I found mvself in 

 an Indian country that was rapidly undergoing those changes which an 

 advancing civilization is sure to bring with it, and it was mv aim to pre- 

 serve, in the way of good photographs, much that pertained to their life, 

 habits, and mode of living in the past, etc. Lastly, however, I felt that I 

 had a very pretty field open before me that woidd, if worked with patience, 

 yield another valuable series of figures for illustrative work, and this was 

 the photographing in their native haunts many of the wild animals of the 

 country. During the past ten years I have seen the time when I have 

 been near enough to have obtained good photographs, either in the 

 mountains or on the boundless plains, of such animals as our antelope, 

 buffalo, mountain sheep, and a great many of the smaller mammals and 

 birds. In this letter, however, it is my object merely to say a few words in 

 regard to the advantages to be derived from the use of the camera in field 

 ornithology. In the first place, if we can secure good photographic nega- 

 tives of such subjects, the rapidly-improving processes permit us to trans- 

 fer them with absolute accuracy to either metal or stone, and if I am not 

 mistaken, to wood, also. Moreover, these processes are becoming cheap- 

 er and better every year that goes by, so that it falls within the means of 

 nearly every scientific publishing medium to reproduce such drawings 



