2IO Correspondence. [ A 



Auk- 

 priS 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



[ Correspondents are requested to write briefly and to the point. No attention will be 

 paid to anonymous communications.] 



"A Neglected Branch of Ornithology." 



To the Editors of The Auk :— 



Dear Sirs : Chief among the reasons, so it seems to the writer, why 

 our younger ornithologists neglect not only the pterylography of birds, but 

 many other equally important branches of ornithology, are the time, care, 

 and patience'needed for the prosecution of such work, the labor required 

 for the accumulation of facts, and the difficulty of properly publishing 

 results. 



Most workers, especially the younger ones, like to behold the fruits of 

 their labors, and most of them, too, like to see some of these fruits dished 

 up in type. The easiest and quickest means for the accomplishment of 

 these desires is first to 'make a collection' and secondly to publish a 'local 

 list,' and to these ends most of our rising ornithologists devote themselves. 

 Not that this is much to be wondered at, for the work of collecting is 

 pleasant, and the seeking of feathered prizes by wood and stream has a 

 charm about it that few can find in pottering over ill-smelling alcoholics, 

 or tediously dissecting some fresher specimen. The time needed to plot 

 the pterylosis of one bird would make the skins of a score, and give results 

 far more filling to the cabinet and pleasing to the eye. 



Does not Dr. Allen, in his note appended to Mr. Clark's letter, tell us 

 of months of toil whose results have never been published, and did not 

 Dr. Allen give up the study of pterylography? And did not Mr. Ridgway 

 give us a most important paper on the osteology of the Falconidse, and 

 did he ever give us a second ? 



If, then, acknowledged leaders like these should seem to prefer the exter- 

 nal characters of birds, it is small wonder that lesser men should strive to 

 follow in their footsteps. Nevertheless it is a pity, with so much work 

 yet to be done, so many problems still unsolved, that so large a number 

 of our ornithologists should keep on amassing skins, as if that were the 

 chief end of ornithology. 



Washington, D. C, Feb. i<p, iSgj. Frederic A. Lucas. 



