2 26 THE AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST 



Cones, one of America's foremost scientists, truly said forty years 

 ago, ' Life, even bird life, is too sacred a thing to be needlessly or 

 thoughtlessly sacrificed.' Yet countless facts of the utmost 

 importance in the scientific study of birds can be obtained only 

 through the sacrifice of bird life, and an ornitholgist who aspires to 

 be an authority upon his science must ruthlessly suppress his 

 natural feelings in this respect and must procure and make use of 

 such material as is absolutely necessary without regard to what are 

 often described as the humane sentiments. This does not mean that 

 any untrained boy has the right to take his gun into the field and 

 kill birds indescriminately or even freely under the impression that 

 his intention to preserve some as specimens and to study such 

 specimens later justify the action. On the contrary the right to 

 collect birds freely for scientific purposes should be carefully restrict- 

 ed to such persons as can give evidence of a serious purpose to use to 

 advantage the specimens so taken. The Michigan law covering this 

 point is clear and strong. 



"A moment's thought will convince any one that the student 

 who searches the woods carefully for a bird which he has never 

 seen, who follows up each unknown call or song, watches with care 

 each doughtful and illusive form which suggests the bird desired, 

 and finally, perhaps after hundreds of disappointments, kills a 

 specimen of the much coveted species and measures, preserves and 

 labels it for his own collection, has gained a knowledge of the 

 appearance, habits, notes, size and structure of this species which 

 could be obtained in no other possible way. Not only has he gained 

 all this knowledge with regard to this particular specimen, but in 

 doing so he has exercised, consciously or unconsciously, his powers of 

 observation, comparison and discrimination with regard to scores 

 of other birds, so that his experience has been broadened and his 

 power and judgment very materially strengthened. 



" It may seem to some that essentially the same results could be 

 obtained if our student were accompanied to the woods by an 

 instructor who should call his attention to the note of the bird 

 sought, point it out and comment on its peculiarities and after 

 watching the specimen carefully, perhaps through a field glass, 

 record his observations and allow the bird to depart unharmed. 

 vSuch a method of study unquestionably has its advantages, especi- 

 ally for the bird, but except in the case of a limited number of 

 species, a certain degree of doubt must inevitably attach to such a 



