50 



A Word to the Wise. 



The two maxims at the close of this paper may be termed 

 "A word to the wise." The foolish will not heed them. 



Science is truth. Its records must be based on facts. There- 

 fore if you report your findings, you should be sure, first, that 

 they are authentic. A fertile imagination is a great gift, useful 

 for the writer of fiction, but it has no place in bird study. A 

 "creative memory" is not an asset for the bird student. Many 

 people make mistakes in the identity of birds seen in the field. 

 The rose-breasted grosbeak and the scarlet tanager have been 

 reported here in winter. There are no other North American 

 birds that resemble either of them. It would seem impossible 

 to mistake these birds. But it is well known that the scarlet 

 tanager winters in South America, and that the rose-breasted 

 grosbeak winters from southern Mexico southward into South 

 America. Therefore it is highly improbable that any report of 

 these birds wintering in this region is correct. Somebody must 

 have been mistaken. 



Mistakes in field identification are made not only by novices, 

 but by experienced ornithologists. Years ago, when the pas- 

 senger pigeon had disappeared from New England, three of 

 America's eminent ornithologists visited one of the last locali- 

 ties frequented by this bird in Connecticut. Two of these 

 gentlemen have filled the position of president of the American 

 Ornithologists' Union; the other was a well-known local 

 ornithologist. Immediately upon arriving on the ground the 

 first two gentlemen identified some birds seen as passenger 

 pigeons. The local ornithologist asserted that they were 

 mourning doves. Some one was mistaken. Finally the birds 

 flew away, and to this day no one absolutely knows whether 

 these birds were mourning doves or passenger pigeons. For 

 several years rewards aggregating |3,000 were offered for the 

 undisturbed nest and eggs of the passenger pigeon. Although 

 many people claimed the reward, no one actually found the 

 nest. The American continent was searched, but no one was 

 able to produce even so much as a feather of the passenger 

 pigeon. Nevertheless, every few weeks some one reports having 

 seen passenger pigeons. While there may be still some pas- 

 senger pigeons on earth, it does not seem probable. 



