116 



THE OOLOGIST. 



oiu't'. soc the tiue value and worth of 

 such au iustitution. Avhere one is able, 

 at a very moderate price, to pursue his 

 own loved study under the best of in- 

 structors, and in tlie fields and woods 

 and by the waters of Lake Quinsiga- 

 mond. 



Natural History students, wherever 

 they nniy be found, coidd very profita- 

 bly spend their vacation; or, a part of 

 it, at this delightful camp. 



Or, if too far remo\ed fi'om this 

 mother of Natural History Camps, why 

 they not make an effort to establish 

 similar institutions in their own re- 

 spective localities, and by their own 

 pretty hikes ami stroamsV The project 

 may "seem large at the outset, but a 

 scheme with such pleasure, education 

 and in-oUt behind it, cannot but meet 

 with the greatest success. 



We would like to see the plan of the 

 Lake Quinsigaraoud Natural History 

 Camp carried out in many ])laces 

 throughout the country. Is the result 

 not worth the eftortv 



Recording tlie Number of Birds Observed. 



' [From The Aalc, Vol. Yll, No. 2, April, 1S90.] 



In an interesting article in The Aiik a 

 year ago Mr. Witmer Stone speaks of 

 the difficulty of estimating the number 

 of birds in a gi\'en locality, and de- 

 clares it "well-nigh impossible." Al- 

 though this difficulty is, perhaps, not so 

 great as it seems, yet it has been so 

 generally recognizetl that almost all 

 field observers seem to have accepted 

 the ease as hopeless, and to have con- 

 liented themselves with entering a bird 

 in their note-books, as well as in pub- 

 lished lists, as 'abundant,' 'rare,' or 

 •rather common,' words of such pleas- 

 ing indetiniteness that they seldom 

 unean the same thing to two different 

 observers, or to the same person in 

 regard to diiferent species. The result 

 is that we have but the vaguest idea of 

 th(! relative abundance of different 

 birds or of the fluctuations of any one 

 species in different years or from day 

 to day through its period of migration. 



To take a complete census — except 

 perhaps during the breeding season — 

 may be out of the question, but there is 



no leason why an observer should not 

 make his work exact as far as his op- 

 portunities and abilities permit, — i. e., 

 why he should not keep a record of the 

 exact number of birds of each species 

 met with each day. This of course 

 would not represent the actual number 

 present in any locality, for varying 

 circumstances of length of time spent in 

 the field, extent and nature of the 

 country covered during the day, 

 weather, etc., would considerably 

 modify the results, but, by entering all 

 these facts in the day's journal, and 

 givmg them due consideration in mak- 

 ing subset] ueut comparisons of the 

 figures obtained, results can be reached 

 that if not exact, are at least an ap- 

 proach toward it, and of vastly more 

 value than the record of a vague gener- 

 alization based perhaps as much on 

 some mere accident that has sti'onglj' 

 impressed the iniagination, as on sinj 

 serious consideration of the facts ob- 

 served . 



This practice of keeping a careful 

 count has been in use for the last few 

 years among several ornithologists of 

 my acquaintance, and it would seem 

 worth while to urge its general adop- 

 tion among field naturalists, if it were 

 only to infuse a spirit of more scientific 

 exactness into their field-work. Our 

 way is to jot down in the field with 

 pencil and paper — perhaps on the back 

 of an old letter — every individual bird 

 seen or heard. If birds are few, and 

 one's memory good, it may be possible 

 to do this all at the end of the day, but 

 for most people, and in the height of 

 the season, the best way is to stop 

 every little while — in the inevitable 

 pauses of waiting for some bird to show 

 himself or to sing again — enter the 

 species not already on the list, and 

 mark against each name the number 

 seen or beard since the last entry. 

 Care must be taken to make due allow- 

 ance for individuals already previously 

 observed during the same day, in order 



