236 THE CONDOR Vol.. X 



ate knowledge pertaining to this aspect of these than of any other animals. A 

 large portion of that knowledge is unpublished and hence available only for the 

 observers themselves and their few personal acquaintances. 



I wish to point out that this kind of knowledge is the very essence of analyt- 

 ical biology. True analysis in science begins with what is "given" — with the 

 original data. Now the data of biology are the organisms, the -plants and the 

 animals as they occur in nature. We can learn much, very much, about animals 

 by killing them and taking them to pieces to study their bodily parts; but nature 

 does not give us dead animals to start with. They have to be living before they 

 can be dead. 



So, too, we can learn much about the ways of animals by studying confined — 

 "tamed" — ones; but these again are not what nature furnishes in the first instance. 

 The study of zoology must per force begin with the animals of the forests, the 

 mountains, the plains, and the waters. 



To leave generalities and come to practical matters, my main points are: (l) 

 that steps ought to be taken to correlate the efforts of ornithologists and to put 

 their results into more permanent and available form; and (2) that these steps 

 should be taken from the standpoint and needs of general biology as well as 

 of ornithology. 



The carrying out of such a project would require much time, thought, labor 

 and money; but the general lines on which it ought to run would seem tolerably 

 obvious. A central board or bureau, not too large, but still thoroly representa- 

 tive, would be needed as the medium for general direction and final finishing-off of 

 the real work, viz, that done in the field by the numerous individual observers. 



This "thoroly representative" board would need to be made up somewhat 

 as follows: Of one or more persons whose interests are birds first and foremost; of 

 someone who has made animal psychology and behaviour generally, his main object 

 of study; and of some one of the broadest possible biological horizon. 



Besides these elements in the make-up of the board (which might be designated 

 as professional), managerial, editorial and financiering skill would have to be se- 

 cured in some way; that is, either as combined with the professional elements, or 

 as independent elements. 



I believe there are great possibilities in some such scheme, vague and cumber- 

 some as it may look at first sight. 



It is, however, not worth while to enter upon detailed discussions until there 

 is evidence that it would appeal wndely and easily to students of animate nature. It 

 is too protean an idea to be realized thru the enthusiasm and push of one or a 

 few persons, unless indeed unlimited time and perseverance were among the en- 

 dowments of such persons. 



University of California., Berkeley. 



FROM FIELD AND STUDY 



Louisiana Water-Thrush in Cahfornia. — On August 17, 1908, while passing the time be- 

 tween trains at the station of Mecca, Riverside County, in search of the English Sparrow to de- 

 termine its western progress along the Southern Pacific Route, I took an adult male of the 

 Louisiana Water-Thrush {Seiiirus motacilla) on the station ground among the water tank cars. 

 Am I right in considering this a record case for the locality if not for the State? 



Mecca is situated in the Salton sink at an elevation (?) of two hundred feet below the sea and 

 within one and one-half miles of the present Salton Sea. The shores of Salton Sea are very bar- 



