THE OOLOGIST 



71 



And again, a plea for more accurate 

 and reflective observation, witli a field 

 glass if possible. Many observers need 

 to cultivate a deeper appreciation of 

 what a certain argus-eyed veteran in 

 our favorite science has meant by the 

 comprehensive title, "Life Histories." 

 And, about field glasses. When will 

 some bright optician manufacture and 

 put on the ornithological mai'ket, an 

 instrument especially fitted to our 

 needs, with the price brought within 

 the limits of the slender purses that 

 some of us are carrying about with us 

 these days? 



As to observations and field-notes: 

 I am a httle chagrined tb hear, to see 

 nothing more as to the wonderfully 

 handy 8i by di inch note .books refer- 

 red to in a not long remote issue of the 

 OoLOGiST. These bank books are in- 

 terleaved with absorbent paper. You 

 jot down your notes in ink, always in 

 ink, and close the book, unblotted. 

 There's a column for the date, and a 

 space for the particulars and any met- 

 erological or other pertinent notes may 

 be written on the bibulous paper, two 

 sets of notes in the same book, and side 

 by side, just where one wants them, 

 and all for a song. Why not two 

 or three hundred of us sit right 

 down, just as soon as this copy of the 

 OoLOGiST is read from cover to covei', 

 and overwhelm the editor with an or- 

 der for half a dozen copies, each of the 

 Model Field Book? 



A final attack on the question of 

 "Stall d ard Datas:" The accompanying 

 form represents, (for my purposes and 

 tastes at least), the summing up of the 

 best qualities to be found in twenty or 

 thirty different forms, occurring among 

 hundreds of datas in my collection. 

 The datum "situation" I venture to 

 add, on ray own responsibility, though 

 the facts that it should involve are lack- 

 ing in most descriptions, while yet they 

 are of deepest interest to the true lover 

 of ornithology and nidiology. The up- 



per left hand corner ai'rangement, in 

 which I especially delight is, I take it, 

 largely the idea of a big-hearted ranch- 

 man and ornithologist of Denver, wide- 

 ly quoted and still more widely known. 

 Its beauty and utility ai'e seen in the 

 fact the given arrangemeni brings close- 

 ly together on the data just the mark- 

 ings which should be found on the eggs. 

 The "date" and "incubation" details are 

 placed together and on the first line be- 

 cause if acurate, they tell us exactly 

 what we wish to know about the nest- 

 ing date. Special attention has been 

 given to the reserving of abundant 

 space for "particulars." What a host 

 of delightfully interesting informalities 

 do some of our most accurate and en- 

 thusiastic field workers manage to 

 crowd overflowingly into such a space 

 as thisl 



The data has been made as large as 

 it could be and still fit, without Jolding, 

 into a No. 6 envelope. The big square 

 datas that must be folded, and the rag- 

 ged edged stub-datas ai'e equally an 

 abomination. Wherefoi^e, buy of Un- 

 cle Sam a package of No. 6 stamped 

 envelopes, to forward your datas with- 

 out folding, and provide yourselves 

 with field books for recording data 

 complete for each set, and allow the 

 wretchedly inadequate "stub" to des- 

 uetudinize. The form presented here- 

 with, and recommended for use, is filled 

 out with ail actual record from my '92 

 field book, to give some indication of 

 its possible and proper use. If any 

 pertinent suggestions occur to any one, 

 we shall all, surely be grateful for them; 

 and if any thing touching this form has 

 been left obscure, pex'haps our obliging 

 Mr. Lattin will give space in the next 

 issue, for a few words of added explan- 

 ation. 



Here goes the inevitable moral.- 

 Throw away your old and blunted 

 drills, and buy sharp ones — scorning 

 the cheapest sorts. Drill the hole on the 

 least finely marked, or on the stained 



