68 Rrce^if rJtrrafuyc. S^^^^ 



author's well known style, interspersed with sketches of nature and exten- 

 sive quotations from Wilson, Audubon, Nuttall, and man}' other writers, 

 whicli together make a book that cannot fail to prove most attractive to 

 the reader who possesses any appreciation for nature, while the facts 

 recorded are in the main scientifically accui-ate. 



Dr. Abbott very justly calls to account the careless sportsman, the 

 "loafers" and plume hunters, who are responsible for the scarcity of 

 many of our birds which were formerly abundant, and "silly women" 

 wlio wear birds in their hats also come in for their share of censure. It 

 is the " professional ornithologist," however, against whom Dr. Abbott is 

 especially and unjustly severe. He says of their work: "To realize what 

 bird life is we must do a great deal more than merelv collect the creatures 

 and measure the thousandth of an inch of their hind toes." "There has 

 been too much collecting by far that has yielded nothing worth the 

 knowing. It is not justifiable to kill one hundred warblers in a day just 

 to see if a particular one is among them. There is nothing to be gained 

 in determining that there are possible hybrids, or, it may be, an over- 

 looked good species in a given area. Let what we do not know go 

 unknown until discovered by accident and let the birds live." Strange 

 advice surely from any one who pretends to believe in scientific investi- 

 gation I And if Dr. Abbott thinks that professional ornithologists are 

 accustomed to slaughter all the birds to be found in a given area in order 

 to determine what species occur there, he certainly has not a very close 

 acquaintance with those whom he criticises. Professional ornithologists 

 have just as much respect for bird life as has Dr. Abbott and do not 

 sacrifice anv more birds than are necessary for scientific study. 



Our author further states that "the plea for collecting is worn thread- 

 bare " ; and concerning the habits and anatomy of birds, "all needed 

 information can be had from scores of books." " What we now want to 

 know about birds does not call for a shot-gun. Our museums are over- 

 stocked and the amateur collector is a nuisance." Ornithologists will 

 scarcely agree with the above, as there are many questions regarding bird 

 anatomy, structure, and coloration of feathers, which have yet to be 

 solved and upon which the books give us little or no information. And 

 as to amateur collecting, beginners in the study must collect specimens to 

 aid them in their work and to enable them to properly identify the birds 

 that they see. Had Dr. Abbott used a gun a little more and been certain 

 of the identity of the birds of which he wrote he would have been spared 

 the publication of many remarkable statements which appeared in some 

 of his earlier works, and which he himself seems now to admit as errors, 

 as they do not appear in 'Birds About Us.' He still, however, insists on 

 the breeding of the Solitary Sandpiper at Trenton, N. J., and says that 

 " it is foolish for theoretical ornithologists to dispute such statements." 

 In view, however, of the position he now takes regarding some of his 

 other remarkable statements, we may be pardoned for differing from this 

 opinion. 



