824 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLI. No. 1066 



books, because they do not know enough to do 

 so, or are too careless or too hurried in their 

 endeavors to get large series of specimens. 

 The source, localities and dates of the speci- 

 mens in such collections are often doubtful, 

 since the collectors are likely to be careless in 

 distinguishing between reliable first-hand in- 

 formation and that which somebody tells them, 

 and too ready to accept as truth and to record 

 as facts statements of unscrupulous dealers in 

 regard to the specimens they sell; and the 

 esistence of material scattered in small col- 

 lections is generally unknown to those who 

 might employ it to advantage in the inves- 

 tigations they are conducting. The number, 

 cheapness and general accessibility of reliable 

 books on birds, many of them with photo- 

 graphs from life and colored illustrations of 

 a high degree of accuracy, has greatly de- 

 tracted from the educational importance of 

 bird collections, not only for the general pub- 

 lic, but for those wishing more than a super- 

 ficial acquaintance with our birds. 



If annoying restrictions are in some places 

 imposed on scientific ornithologists, is it not 

 largely because they have too often allied them- 

 selves with those who collect birds and eggs 

 merely as a hobby, and who might better be 

 engaged in the less destructive pursuit of col- 

 lecting postage stamps? No doubt this alli- 

 ance has been partly for the sake of increased 

 opportunities for obtaining specimens by pur- 

 chase or exchange, and partly because of a 

 belief that some ornithological genius might 

 develop among the amateurs thus incited to 

 greater efforts. But has not the actual result 

 been to lower the character of bird study — to 

 place ornithology in a position apart from 

 other branches of zoology and nearer to pur- 

 suits not truly scientific? 



It has resulted in spreading altogether mis- 

 taken ideas of what science is and of what 

 ornithology should be, and encouraged such 

 false and destructive delusions as the common 

 idea that one of the highest achievements of 

 the ornithologist is to kill some rare straggler 

 or accidental visitor and " establish a record " 

 or " add to the fauna " of his state or county 

 some species not previously listed, which, from 

 any common sense point of view does not prop- 



erly belong to the fauna at all. If such rare 

 bird visitors are of species formerly found in 

 the region but now practically or entirely ex- 

 terminated, their killing may effectually put 

 an end to an attempt to reoccupy the aban- 

 doned territory, and thus prevent the species 

 being added to the fauna in reality, not merely 

 in ornithologist's language. The writer thinks 

 that many ornithologists and other scientific 

 men who believed in their younger days that 

 it was a necessary incident, if not the largest 

 element, in being an ornithologist, to go out 

 and shoot catbirds, scarlet tanagers and blue- 

 birds, and rob their nests, have now discovered 

 that they did so because they did not know 

 any better, or followed bad advice given by 

 other collectors or contained in the older 

 manuals for ornithologists. Most of them 

 will certainly be inclined to suspect that they 

 could have learned many times as much about 

 birds in less destructive ways, and probably 

 few of them would in that case have found 

 bird study any less interesting. More is being 

 discovered about birds to-day with field glasses 

 and cameras than with gunpowder and shot, 

 and much of it is trustworthy scientific in- 

 formation, which to say the least ranks as high 

 in interest and value to humanity as that 

 which the average bird collector's cabinet of 

 bird skins and egg shells can afford. 



In closing the writer would like to empha- 

 size the fact that this is no time for reaction- 

 ary protests and attacks on the tardy and in- 

 sufficient efforts that are at last being made 

 to save our native birds and animals from 

 extinction. The indifference displayed by 

 scientific men to the destruction that has been 

 and is still being carried out in every part of 

 the world is far from creditable, since in many 

 cases they are the only ones who realize its 

 extent and inevitable results, and who can 

 bring the subject to the attention of the public 

 and intelligently plan and direct methods to 

 stop it. The list of North American birds 

 already destined to extinction within the next 

 few years is considerable. Only very prompt 

 action will save a good many others whose 

 preservation is not yet hopeless. 



The large whales and certain other marine 

 mammals, a considerable proportion of the 



