Problems Confronting Beginners 267 



And there are few, if any, of these remarks 

 concerning boys which do not apply equally 

 well to girls. 



A Word as to Scientists 



As for scientific collectors, the writer believes 

 that they should be allowed to go about their 

 work unhampered by petty restrictions. Com- 

 pared with other gunners they shoot few birds 

 and these ate generally made good use of. 

 The complaint that scientific men do not do 

 their share in the work of wild life conservation, 

 is generally unfair. It is usually the cry of some 

 conservationist who wishes he were scientific 

 but is not, who wishes to attract attention to his 

 own work by belittling that of others, or who 

 does not appreciate the fact that the work he 

 himself is doing is based largely on the work of 

 the scientist. The latter during years of patient 

 research has worked out convincing facts which 

 the unscientific conservationist often dashes off 

 in a few conventional sentences without half 

 realizing the enormous amount of effort they 

 represent. For example, one of the strongest 

 arguments in favor of preserving birds, is that 

 they have great economic value ; the facts which 

 support this argument have been ascertained, 

 not by the men who shout them from the house- 



