68 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



time it will be necessary to introduce slight changes — a depart- 

 ment of General Notes in this issue — but these will not be 

 indicative of vaulting ambition that leaps before necessity, but 

 of conservative effort to sohe immediate problems and provide 

 space for cramped energies. 



The D. V. O. C. has reached a stage, when it bulks large, 

 not only in size, but also in quality of membership. With such 

 a corps of trained observers there should be little difficulty in 

 getting valuable material for future issues. I know, of late, 

 there has been a tendency to belittle the chances of adding to 

 the knowledge of the birds of this region, to believe, because so 

 much has been accomplished in the timing of migratorial move- 

 ments, the determining of distribution, the plotting of faunal 

 areas, that little is left for the younger generation, I, for one, 

 am confident that this belief is without foundation. It is true 

 that the searcher for new species will shoot in vain, that the 

 blower of shells will note his consuming fad depreciated more 

 and more, that the maker of mere lists will find his wares un- 

 salable ; but this will simply mean that the age of the indefatig- 

 able observer has arrived. The work of the past has been hardly 

 more than foundational. The superstructure of life-histories has 

 just been begun. There is not one species whose vital statistics 

 have been completed ! The consecutive history of a single indi- 

 vidual year after year has hardly been attempted ! We have ex- 

 haustive studies of birds' feathers, we have learned little of how 

 they fly; we know much of throat mechanism, we know practi- 

 cally nothing of bird-songs ! The past, splendid as it has been, 

 has not made effort useless, it has merely swamped out the main 

 road into the wilderness, whose pleasant by-paths it shall be 

 our duty to cut, and so reveal secrets unsuspected. With per- 

 fect faith, therefore, in the future, the editor looks forward to 

 renewed activity on the part of every member of the D. V. 0. 

 C. in the study of these elusive creatures of wing. Indefatigable 

 study, rather than general observation, should be our watch- 

 word for the coming year. The exhaustive study of details will 

 reap an unexpected harvest and will provide a surplus of pro- 

 ducts, so that subsequent issues of ' Cassinia' will be thoroughly 

 representative of such a splendid organization. 



