12 . Bird Comrades 



it down" with the aid of a bird manual. It is much 

 better to run a bird down in this way than to shoot it 

 down. 



It is pertinent to say at this time that no one should 

 disparage scientific treatises, or the learned and pains- 

 taking people who gather the material for them and 

 prepare them. It is quite the fashion nowadays, when 

 a " popular" book on birds appears, for some reviewers 

 to compare it with the so-called "dry" scientific works 

 of the specialists, to the disparagement of the latter. 

 This is as wrong as it is gratuitous. The " popular" 

 book, delightful as it may be, could not have been written, 

 or, if written, would have had little real value, had it 

 not been for the help obtained from the systematists, 

 who, with almost infinite toil, have made possible the 

 scientific classification of the numerous members of the 

 bird tribe. Pioneer work in ornithology, as elsewhere, 

 may not be very enchanting to most people, but it is 

 necessary. The scientific spirit should be -honored, not 

 disdained, for without it accuracy would be impossible. 

 On the other hand, the man who plods with scientific 

 details should not look with contempt upon the man who 

 popularizes the results of technical study by giving it 

 an attractive literary setting. In short, the scientific 

 writer and the "popular" writer are alike worthy of 

 "honorable mention," for both of them are needful fac- 

 tors in the dissemination of knowledge. 



You will want to know where a first-rate bird manual 

 can be obtained. It affords me sincere pleasure to 



