390 University of California Publications in Zoology [Vol. 11 



in this field having been given over to classification and habit 

 notes. The following period (1850-1865) marks the time when 

 the specialized science of economic ornithology was founded. It 

 was a period of interest and agitation. Before the conclusion of 

 this period the modern methods of investigation were introduced 

 into America by Jenks (1860). The period since 1865 is best 

 considered the modern period — a time when the attempt to reach 

 truth is backed by experimental evidence and the work becomes 

 intensive rather than general. (See Locy, 1908.) 



To the first period belong such men as Catesby, Edwards, 

 Forster, Latham. Bartram, Hearne, and Barton — men who took 

 an active interest in natural history and enriched ornithological 

 literature with what observational facts they were able to glean. 

 In the latter part of this first epoch there began a marked tend- 

 ency to gain more than superficial facts by observation, and so 

 in the writings of Wilson, Audubon, and Baird we find mention 

 of the food of birds. (See Palmer, 1899.) 



It was not till 1860 that Jenks (1860) applied scientific 

 method to the study of the food of birds. Previous to this time 

 there had been considerable agitation concerning the value of 

 birds, and many papers dealing with the question appeared in 

 agricultural journals. Le Baron's "Observations of the Birds 

 of Illinois Interesting to the Agriculturist" is a good type. 

 Other writers at this time were Walford, Holmes. Kirkpatrick, 

 Dodge, Allen, Elliott, and Samuels. The hour was ripe, there- 

 fore, for economic ornithology really to take a place among the 

 sciences as distinct from ornithologj' itself. The work carried 

 on by Jenks (1860), Treadwell (1859), Aughey (1878), and 

 Forbes (1880, 1882, 1883, 1903) gave the science its real foun- 

 dation, and inaugurated the modern methods now well exemplified 

 and used by the United States Bureau of Biological Survey. 



At about the same time we find the science getting a start 

 in Europe. Jenks (1860), when introducing the method of 

 stomach examination into the United States, followed Prevost's 

 (1858) method. M. Florent Prevost was evidently the pioneer 

 in Europe. His paper, "A Memoir on the Alimentary Regimen 

 of Birds." presented to the Imperial Zoological Society of Paris 

 in the year 1858, and translated by Jenks in 1859, should still 



