170 



THE OOLOGIST 



SYSTEMATIC BIRD STUDY 



By Laurence H. Snyder, Cold Springs 

 Harbor, L. I., N. Y. 



The progress of any science is 

 necessarily limited by the number of 

 trained workers in that science, and 

 by the available apparatus and facili- 

 ties for research. Thus, in general, 

 progress has been slow. To some ex- 

 tent, especially in experimental work, 

 this has been an advantage, because 

 the work done has been more care- 

 fully and accurately planned and car- 

 ried out where facilities were limited. 

 But as far as general knowledge of a 

 subject is concerned, the more rapidly 

 progress is made and the sooner ac- 

 curate data and facts are accumulat- 

 ed, the more will scientists be able to 

 make use of this general knowledge 

 in advancing the experimental work 

 and the practical applications of the 

 science. 



All progress in a science comes from 

 the untiring efforts of those who give 

 their time and energy to the advance- 

 ment of that science. The dearth of 

 available men and suitable research 

 facilities has been the retarding fac- 

 tor. It is not necessary to discuss the 

 money side of it now; it is the fact of 

 few workers, not the reason for them, 

 that concerns us here. Thus, prog- 

 ress in astromony is slow because 

 there are few trained astronomers and 

 but few available observatories. In 

 other sciences it has been the same 

 way. So far it has been the case in 

 ornithology. All the knowledge of 

 birds which we have has been gained 

 by the life-long efforts of a few who 

 have carefully made and recorded ob- 

 servations. But bird study, which is 

 of practical and economic importance, 

 need not be under this handicap. 

 Years of training are not necessary 

 to study birds. Everyone with a real 

 love of nature is a possible field 



worker; all outdoors is the laboratory; 

 every woods offers all the facilities 

 necessary for interesting and instruc- 

 tive research. 



The word research will frighten 

 some. The very title Systematic Bird 

 Study will scare many. But these are 

 not ogres. Systematic bird study does 

 not mean deep technical study; it 

 does not mean learning a lot of scien- 

 tific terms nor studying comparative 

 anatomy. But it does mean a county- 

 M'ide co-operative plan of making and 

 recording observations in which any- 

 one can take part. Let me outline 

 such a plan. 



First, it involves some central 

 agency or "clearing house." Such an 

 association as the National Associa- 

 tion of Adubon Societies might be 

 a possible central office. All data 

 would be- sent there for interpretation. 



Second, it involves the co-Operation 

 of many observers in all parts of the 

 country. Bird Clubs, Audubon So- 

 cieties and individual workers can all 

 contribute to the accumulation of 

 data. If each club or worker would 

 pick out a single species, and find out 

 all there was to know about that 

 species over a period of years, and 

 then send in the data in condensed 

 form, perhaps once in five years, our 

 knowledge would grow by leaps and 

 bounds. Many old facts would be 

 verified or disproved, and many new 

 facts learned. For example, let us 

 suppose that a particular club picks 

 out the robin. By observations on all 

 available birds and nests in their lo- 

 cality they would proceed to =find out 

 the following facts : Date of arrival 

 (average date over a number of years 

 and the two extremes) ; sex which ar- 

 rives first; habits on first arriving; 

 time of mating; courtship habits; 

 time of nest building; nest built by 

 male or female or both; time of day at 

 which nest is built; time of first egg; 

 eggs laid on consecutive days or ir- 



