68 JUNGLE PEACE 



whose treasury of bird and beast and insect 

 secrets had been only skimmed by collectors. 

 The spoils had been carried to northern mu- 

 seums, where they were made available for 

 human conversation and writing by the con- 

 ferring of names by twentieth-century Adams. 

 We had learned much besides from these speci- 

 mens, and they had delighted the hearts of 

 multitudes who would never have an oppor- 

 tunity to hear the evening cadence of the six- 

 o'clock bee or the morning chorus of the howling 

 monkeys. 



But just as a single photograph reveals little 

 of the inception, movement and denouement of 

 an entire moving-picture reel, so an isolated 

 dead bird can present only the static condition 

 of the plumage, molt, and dimensions at the 

 instant before death. I am no nature senti- 

 mentalist, and in spite of moments of weakness, 

 I will without hesitation shoot a bird as she 

 sits upon her eggs, if I can thereby acquire 

 desired information. But whenever possible, I 

 prefer, for my own sake as well as hers, to pro- 

 long my observations, and thus acquire merit in 

 the eyes of my fellow scientists and of Buddha. 



I hoped the Pomeroon might prove such a 



