THE OOLOGIST 



87 



to keep off the mosquitos as much as 

 possible. In addition, it was necessary 

 to wear a bee veil and a pair of com- 

 mon cotton gloves to ward off these 

 pests. This blind the writer left alon^ 

 the edge of the swamp all the while 

 he was making observations and be- 

 cause of the few who visit the spot, it 

 was not disturbed by anyone. 



Louis S. Kohler, Paterson. N. J. 



MORE "SAND" 



We are in receipt of a communica- 

 tion from one William Leo Dawson, 

 signing as "Provisional Secretary of 

 the M. M. C. O. and 1. M. C. O.," under 

 date of March 14th, from which we 

 draw the inference that more or less 

 sand has filtered its way into the 

 gear boxes containing the executive 

 mechanism of the Museum of Com- 

 parative Oology, with the result of 

 much friction and lack of smoothness 

 in the running. 



Mr. Dawson says, "1 have found my- 

 self increasingly hampered in the ex- 

 ercise of the directorial function with 

 ever dwindling prospects of obtaining 

 on behalf of generous contributors and 

 members the recognition to which i 

 felt they are entitled." 



This is followed by a veiled assault 

 upon one Mrs. M. P. B. Hazard, who 

 is charged as having sent out engraved 

 cards using the title of "Hazard Me- 

 morial Museum of Comparative Oolo- 

 gy," which had no official sanction. 

 Later in this remarkable communica- 

 tion Mr. Dawson refuses "to quarrel 

 with those of lesser vision," but con- 

 descendingly adds "Never-the-less if 

 there are those who think it worth 

 while to protest the action of the 

 Board in forcing my resignation, they 

 are accorded that privilege." We have 

 so far seen no such protests. 



And later to those addressed he 

 says, "So far as material, birds' eggs, 

 are concerned you have lost a good 



deal;" and he then discloses a pro- 

 posed organization of the members of 

 the supposedly now defunct Museum 

 of Comparative Oology, to continue 

 as a de facto organization — "an in- 

 stitution in the making," under Mr. 

 Dawson's leadership, and coaxes for 

 ( ontributions for a "War Chest," out o; 

 which there is supposedly eventually 

 to grow the "International Museum of 

 Comparative Oology," and winds up 

 with the sentence, "I shall be grateful 

 to you for a frank expression upon this 

 critical and momentous occasion." 



We are not the least surprised at 

 the turn of events. The Museum of 

 Comparative Oology, in its original 

 conception was a splendid dream and 

 should have realized into a monu- 

 mental reality. Mr. Dawson was not 

 the man to head such an enterprise, 

 being fit neither by nature nor cultiva- 

 tion, for such a position. He lacked 

 that element which is essential to the 

 meeting, cultivating, captivating and 

 keeping the good will of those with 

 whom he came in contact. Was alto- 

 gether too bigoted and dictatorial, in- 

 dividually affected in manner, fussy 

 in disposition and extreme and stagy 

 in language, both written and oral. 



If Mr. Dawson could only read a 

 dozen or fifteen of the communications 

 out of several dozen that reached us, 

 commenting on our article "Sand" in 

 the December, 1922, Oologist, and 

 would be willing to be chastened, and 

 learn thereby, it would do him a vast 

 amount of good in the remaining years 

 of his life. A man to successfully fill 

 that character of a position must con- 

 cede to those whom he comes in con- 

 tact with at least some slight degree 

 of knowledge and intelligence, and 

 also the right to express their opin- 

 ions reasonably, even though they 

 might differ from those of its "Di- 

 rector." 



The fundamental underlying theory 



