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Owing to the general interest in birds, ornitliologists receive 

 communications from many people stating that they have seen 

 rare birds, or asking that birds be identified from their de- 

 scriptions. Often these descriptions are so incomplete that it 

 is impossible for any one to identify birds from them, and many 

 times they describe no bird living on this earth. Some of the 

 descriptions may be derived from escaped cage birds, others 

 from freaks, such as hybrids or partially melanistic or albinistic 

 specimens. In any case, the description should be complete, 

 otherwise the time of both describer and expert is wasted. I 

 •realize the difficulties under which beginners labor. There are 

 no adequate illustrations of all plumages of all North American 

 birds, nor are there any adequate descriptions of all. The best 

 that we have are those in Ridgway's "Birds of North and 

 Middle America," and that is not yet complete (1919). The 

 collections of birds in both public and private museums in this 

 country also are inadequate, and few men have a knowledge of 

 ornithology sufficient to enable them to recognize at sight the 

 different plumages of most North American birds, to say 

 nothing of those of other countries, some of which may find 

 their way here, while others may escape from confinement and 

 be found at large. It is evident, then, that in asking an 

 ornithologist to identify by description, a bird that you do not 

 know, you may be presenting a problem indeed. Therefore, 



(1) when seeking light on the identification of a bird, never 

 trouble an ornithologist with an inadequate description; also, 



(2) be sure of the identity of a bird before you report its 

 occurrence as a fact. 



