^"igi^^^J Felger, Plart for Recording Field Notes. 1 89 



A PLAN FOR RECORDING IN A CONDENSED FORM 

 THE LIFE-HISTORY NOTES OF BIRDS. 



BY A. H. FELGER, 



In the study of ornithology there is perhaps no field so neg- 

 lected as that of careful and systematic observing and note-taking 

 on the life-histories of birds. With the average collector the tend- 

 ency is to make collections of skins, nests, and eggs with records 

 of dates, localities, and numbers found, without pausing to record 

 notes of greater importance. While the writer recognizes the ne- 

 cessity of making collections of skins, nests, and eggs, he realizes 

 at the same time that such collections, unless supplemented by 

 complete and carefully prepared notes, are emphatically inadequate 

 in the determination of life-histories — the ultimate purpose of 

 ornithology. 



There are numerous factors lending their influence in favor of 

 collecting, and against the work here referred to, among the most 

 prominent being: (i) the inherent desire to collect per se ; (2) 

 the greater interestingness of collecting; (3) the tediousness of 

 waiting and watching in note-taking; (4) the uncertainty and 

 slowness of results in the latter; (5) the non-attractive clerical 

 labor thereafter involved. To minimize this clerical labor is the 

 purpose of this article. 



In entering upon a discussion of this subject it is necessary in 

 the outset to determine what character of notes should be recorded. 

 By common consent, we take it, the following will be included: 

 general locality, temperature, condition of the weather, direction 

 and force of the wind, amount of rainfall or snowfall, advance of 

 vegetation, new insects abroad, environments, number of birds 

 seen or heard, number of indications of mating, number of indica- 

 tions of nest-building, number of nests found containing eggs, 

 number of nests found containing nestlings, number of young seen 

 on the wing, condition of plumage, stage of moult, food and food 

 habits. To these the following should be added : time out, exact 

 locality, prevailing wind of locality, species searched for but not 

 found, number of birds seen in flocks, number of birds seen in 

 migration flight. The direction and force of the prevailing wind 



