THE OO OGIST 128 
Man-c-War Birds’ and Boobies’ eggs 
from the islands of the South Paci- 
fic, and all kinds of Sea Birds’ eggs 
from the Arctic regions, as well as 
eges of Eagles, Vultures, Hawks, 
Swans, Geese, Cranes and Pelicans 
from all parts of the world. 
One case contains fifteen specimens 
of nests and eggs of Wild Ducks and 
Geese, collected by Mr. Raine amongst 
the lonely lakes of Northern Canada 
and Hurope. 
Of special interest is a fine series of 
one hundred Humming Birds’ Nests, 
and as specimens of bird architecture 
a great variety of beautiful and cur- 
ious nests are shown, the pretty and 
neatly constructed nests of the Hum- 
ming Birds, Warblers, Gnatcatchers, 
Finches, Bush Tits and Wrens making 
a contrast to the carelessly made 
nests of the Doves, Marsh Hawks, 
Plovers and Sandpipers. 
This exhibit covers a space 30x5 
feet, and yet only comprises one-tenth 
part of the immense collection Mr. 
Raine has been twenty years in get- 
ting together, 
Please note the location, under the 
Grand Stand, West end, as we feel 
sure the Natural History Exhibit will 
prove interesting to all visitors. 
— ——_*_o_____—__- 
The New A. O, U, Check List. 
“All things come to him who waits.” 
At least strange as it may seem, after 
many promises, disappointments, ex- 
planations, delays, ete. this produc- 
tion has made its appearance, and the 
students of birds may now (providing 
he has the price) acquire a complete 
list of the birds, included in the Ameri- 
can Ornithologists’ Union Check list. 
But by so doing, he will acquire in 
addition thereto the misfortune of own- 
ing a book, which, if he is to keep it 
up to date, will require an endless 
amount of erasures, interlineations, 
additions and subtractions, if not mul- 
tiplicaticn and division. 
It is to be hoped that some day, 
whenever that day is, if it ever arrives, 
that we mav have a list of bird names 
that will be as permanent as that of 
the Robin, which, though the Latin 
name has undergone many transforma- 
tions, is still known as the Robin. 
Certainty and permanency in names 
as in all other things is one of the 
mest highly desirable of conditions; 
and we trust that the hair-splitting’ 
closet naturalists will ultimately 
either arrive at the end of their string 
or carry their peculiar eccentricities 
to such an extent as to totally dis- 
credit themselves along these lines, 
and that a day will soon arrive when 
the name of a bird will be as perma- 
nent and as recognizable as the name 
of any other one thing. When that 
day comes, confusion worse than con- 
founded, will be a thing of the past. 
One of the most ominous things not- 
ed in the new check list is the threat- 
ened assault on the permanency of 
the common names of our birds. Many 
of these are changed and if this di- 
sease spreads as rapidly as it did 
among the scientific names, we will 
never be able to recognize many of 
our’ old friends in a few years, Let 
us hope it will not be. 
pas a ee 
From the National Conservation Con- 
gress at Minneapolis, Minn. 
FAVORS BIRD CONSERVATION 
Naturalist Tells of Good Done by 
Feathered Tribe. 
Frank M. Chapman of New York 
city, curator of birds in the American 
Museum of Natural History, address- 
ed the conservation congress last even- 
ing on ‘Practical Bird Conservation.” 
Mr. Chapman referred to birds as 
the conservators of our forests and 
