THE OOLOGIST. 



67' 



of these discoveries has awakened 

 among many the desire to form collec- 

 tions. Any person has a right to study 

 the habits of our birds, and along with 

 careful data to form collections, if the 

 number of specimens he takes is not a 

 serious drawback to that species; but 

 the abuse of this privilege has forced 

 before true Ornithologists and Oologists 

 problems which are hard to solve. One 

 of the problems is: how can we prevent 

 the collecting of eggs and skins by per- 

 sons, young or old, who, collecting 

 merely for sport, money, or because 

 "it's the craze," do not have the love of 

 the science at heart and do not take 

 pains to carefully identify their speci- 

 mens? Collecting series of sets should 

 only be practiced by those who intend 

 to give careful study to color, variation, 

 etc. Most states have laws against col- 

 lecting eggs and skins; but scientific 

 collectors are generally unmolested. 

 Now here comes another problem: 

 where shall collecting end and scientific 

 collecting begin? Who is to judge as 

 to whether a person is a scientific col- 

 lector? Should a person's age have any 

 thing to do with it? Can a person 

 commence scientific collecting without 

 knowing anything about birds and their 

 habits or must he commence as a 

 novice and gradually grow into a scien- 

 tific collector? These are certainlv 

 hard questions to answer; but anyone 

 can ask hard questions. 



Many dangers attend the rearing of a 

 brood. Rains and cold weather may 

 delay nesting, spoil the eggs, or kill the 

 young. Some animals count the young, 

 dainty morsels of food. A cowbird 

 often happens to be an occupant of the 

 nest. In this way I could go on and 

 name numerous perils through which 

 the young go. Diseases, the same as 

 with other animals, are common to 

 birds. No doubt migration carries off 

 many of the sick and old as it is often 

 made in all haste. The number of eggs 

 in a set and the average number which, 



when hatched, reached maturity of 

 course has a deal to do with the relative 

 abundance of different species. The 

 length of the breeding season must also 

 be taken into account; in the north 

 where the season is necessarily short, it 

 is evident that if birds are broken up- 

 during nesting or are hindered in any 

 way it would be impossible for them to- 

 rear a brood as the season passes SO' 

 quickly. As stated in the beginning of 

 this article, changes in surroundings, 

 have had a great affect on the abund- 

 ance of certain species in different 

 localities. ' Stated briefly it is as follows:.: 

 changes in surroundings, when not con- 

 ducive to the furtherance of that spec- 

 ies, have told on the numbers if it has. 

 been slow to adapt itself to the new 

 surroundings or to seek others to its. 

 suiting; and a species which has not. 

 changed as civilizations forced it upon 

 them, and would not seek, or, having 

 sought could not find those surround- 

 ings, which were necessary for the con- 

 tinuance of that species, have gradually 

 grown extinct. It is interesting to note 

 that it has probally been these changes 

 which have given us our finest song 

 birds. Listen to John Burroughs in 

 "Wake Robin." "Indeed, what would 

 be more interesting than the history of 

 our birds for the last two or three cen- 

 turies? There can be no doubt that the 

 presence of man has exerted a very 

 marked and friendly influence upon 

 them, since they so multiply in his 

 society. The birds of California, it is 

 said, were mostly silent till after its set- 

 tlement, and I doubt if the Indians 

 heard the wood-thrush as we hear him. 

 When did the bobolink disport himself 

 before there were meadows in the north 

 and rice-fields in the south? Was he 

 the same blithe, merry-hearted beau 

 then as now? And the sparrow, the 

 lark, and the goldfinch, birds that seem 

 so indigenous to the open fields and so 

 averse to the woods, — we cannot con-- 



