VOL XIII. NO. 1. ALBION, N. Y., JANUARY, 1896. 



Whole No. 123. 



Winter Work For the Ornitholop^ist. 



The orDithologist who aspires to be 

 more than a mere collector knows that 

 hi.s woik does not stop wiih the close of 

 the collecting season. Every occupa- 

 tion ha.s two aspects or sides, and in the 

 ■studies of the ornitholoofist there is a 

 pleasant side and there is rtlso a time 

 when there i.s more or ]<\ss apparent 

 drndgerv connected with the work. 

 The summer i oliecting is the enjoyable 

 si(U' of th(^ natnralisi's vacation, and 

 there are few of us who need tobespur- 

 7-ed towai'd the woods and fields. The 

 real enjoyment of a day aiield or afloat 

 \-i in itself the best reward for the ex- 

 erticms made ami the hardships fre- 

 quently encountered, and the commun- 

 ion with the forms of nature which most 

 strongly appeal to our desires is an in 

 centive which we. are unable to resist. 

 There is a umre laborious i)ai't. of the 

 work (if the ornithologist, however, 

 whii-h we are int-lined to m-glect, and 

 yet it is the part which is helpful to the 

 world and to those of our fellow-collec- 

 tors in different ipgions of the country. 

 Hence I feel .impelled to lemind my 

 frii-niis of the Oo].oGi-<T th-it the winter 

 work of the ornithologist is no less im- 

 portant to his a<'vancemnit in the no- 

 ble science he has espoused, and far 

 more valual)le to his co-workers and to 

 the cause of ornithology, than the more 

 pleasurable work of the real collecting 

 time. 



The supreme aim of the student of 

 nature, in any department of her mani- 

 fold aspects, should be the accumula- 

 tion of knowledge for the enlighten- 

 ment of others. The science of orni- 

 thology has made rapid strides in the 

 past few years, solely because the best 



observers were willing to contribute 

 their observations to the growing slock 

 of knowledge. He who builds up a col- 

 lection of eggs or skins with no desire 

 to contribute the facts acquired to his 

 fellow-collectors, but at the close of the 

 season locks his cabinet and shuts his 

 treasures from the light, and allows his 

 notes to lie unheeilcd where none will 

 bo the wiser for his season's work, is no 

 better than the miser whose chai'acter 

 is regarded as despicable. I feel that if 

 all the collectors of this country were 

 actuated by the motives of the true nai - 

 uralist. the mails would be burdened 

 witn manuscripts addressed tothu OOLO- 

 GiST and other journals published in the 

 interests of birds and beasts, and the 

 facts so important to the advancement 

 of this science would soon be brought 

 to lighc. 



The chief part of the work of the orni- 

 tho!('L''s' in the long evenings of winter 

 should he the careful study of the speci- 

 mens taken in the proper season. There 

 are frequently dajs in the collecting 

 season when we are scarcely able to 

 prepare the numbers of specimens we 

 have taken, and many desiral)le addi- 

 tions are made to our collections when 

 we have n(j time to study them what- 

 ever. After we have tramped all day 

 along streams and through swamps, or 

 have clambered up many trees, often 

 with exertions bordering on exhaus- 

 tion, and have prepared the results of 

 the day's efforts by working well into 

 the night, we have little time to give 

 close scrutiny to the treasures v\ e have 

 obtained to our great satisfatiou. Then 

 many of us feel that the records of oolo- 

 gy are complete enough, and that there 

 are others who are more fitted for that 

 part of the work, so M'e pay little atten- 



