THE OOLOGIST 



23 



THE PENDULUM 



We have always lived in hope of re- 

 lief from the manufacturers of milli- 

 meter ra'ces who have mussed up the 

 ornithological literature for a genera- 

 tion past to the distraction of the or- 

 dinary bird students. Between the 

 endless change of scientific names and 

 the alleged discoverer (?) of imaginary 

 local races of birds, the ordinary seek- 

 er after knowledge through the orni- 

 thological literature of the past ten 

 years is driven well nigh to distrac- 

 tion. The scentific names of many of 

 our more common birds having been 

 changed with a rapidity that was ab- 

 solutely startling, then changed and 

 re-changed some more until in many 

 instances the only reliable safeguard 

 was the common name. 



Our Wren, Yellow Throats, Song 

 Sparrows, Blackbirds, Horned Larks, 

 etc., have been split, re-split, sliced, di- 

 vided and torn into bits by an appar- 

 ently never ending series of "Re- 

 visions" until nearly every bird student 

 might claim an original independent 

 ownership, in a sub-species, or geo- 

 graphical race of some bird, the locus 

 of which might possibly be his own 

 back yard. 



That even the most hardended of- 

 fenders along these lines are not with- 

 out the hope of ultimate redemption 

 from this senseless and useless habit 

 is evidenced by the fact that the pend- 

 ulum has slowly commenced to move 

 in the other direction 



On page 32, Volume XXIV of The 

 Condor, February 1922, our friend, 

 Julius Grinnell takes a shot at An- 

 thony's Vireo, Vireo huttoni obscureus, 

 A. O. U. 732C a'nd shoots it clear out 

 of existence. And on page 27 of the 

 same issue publishes a list of the num- 

 ber of alleged different forms of birds 

 described by nine ornithologists who 

 have each described or attempted to 

 describe five or more distinct alleged 

 species or sub-species or geographical 

 race of birds, in which he shows that 

 these millimeter hunters have been 



wrong 28% of the time. And by way 

 of self-defense, Brother Grinnell an- 

 nounces that he has been wrong only 

 six out of thirty-eight times. Be that 

 as it may, the result of these imagi- 

 nary discoveries has been to litter up 

 28'7(, of our literature and to cause 

 those engaged in research along these 

 lines to waste approximately 28% of 

 their time while studying these parti- 

 cular forms. 



We have always held that most of 

 these microscopic discoveries which 

 when reduced to millimeters show that 

 on bird or several may have a hind 

 toe or a bill that is one or two hun- 

 dredth of an inch longer than the same 

 members of some other bird's anat- 

 omy, or that the fact that one or more 

 birds found in a particular locality at a 

 particular time and which might show 

 the slightest difference in color phase 

 on some of their features from some 

 other birds, anatomically identical 

 from those from some other part of 

 the country, did not justify the herald- 

 ing abroad to an expectant and waiting 

 world, that a great ornithological dis- 

 covery had been made! Nor justify 

 the use of thousands of type and pages 

 upon pages of printed matter to dis- 

 cuss pro and con, this imaginary dis- 

 covery which later is found to be noth- 

 ing more than a mere hallucination, 

 does not and never would justify muss- 

 ing up the literature of a great and 

 splendid science until the searchers 

 therein for the grain of knowledge is 

 compelled before he finds it to winnow 

 out untold pages and volumes of this 

 sort of chaff. 



Keep it up Doctor, the more of these 

 imaginary things that you shoot out of 

 our Bird List, the nearer you will come 

 to compensating we ordinary people 

 for the misinformation with which 

 you and many others have afflicted us 

 along these lines in the past. We hope 

 your score at the later character of 

 shooting will stand at least 38 to 6. 

 R. M. Barnes. 



