136 



THE OOLOGIST 



WIDENING 



One of our contributors writes us 

 "Tlie gap between professional Orni- 

 thologists and amateurs appears to be 

 steadily and remorselessly widening. 

 It looks as if the only outlet eventual- 

 ly open to some veterans that are 

 strictly amateurs, by way of bird 

 knowledge, will be through Y. W. & 

 Y. M. Camps, local Audubon Societies, 

 and occasional city Co-operative 

 Clubs." 



It is true, too true, we are sorry to 

 say, that the so-called "professional or- 

 nithologists" most of whom live on 

 taxes assessed and collected on other 

 people's property, amateur bird stu- 

 dents, included, seem to have acquired 

 a notion, that unless a person has 

 been successful in pulling political 

 wires, which will land a public job, 

 that they have no right to study birds, 

 to write or publish anything about any 

 observations they make, or have made; 

 nor as a matter of fact to even as- 

 sume that any amateur knows the dif- 

 ference between a Wild Turkey and a 

 Chimney Swift, or between an Ostrich 

 or a Hummingbird. 



Nearly all these so-called "Profes- 

 sional Ornithologists," have built up 

 whatever reputation they have, as out- 

 door field men, during more or less 

 amateur days; and they now seek to 

 bolster that reputation by discovering 

 or imagining they discover alleged 

 geographic races of birds, the delinea- 

 tion of which to the tax paying public 

 off of whom they live is, and will al- 

 ways be an unfathomable mystery. 



The practice of law for nigh unto 

 forty years and very busy ones at that, 

 has eliminated from the mind of the 

 Editor any notion that he might have 

 had early in life, that simply because 

 one man gets more votes than some 

 other man, and thereby has the title 

 of "Judge" hitched on to the front of 

 his name, necessarily makes the suc- 



cessful candidate any better a lawyer 

 than the unsuccessful candidate was. A 

 mere plurality of votes or a successful 

 wire pulling for an a-ppointment in 

 some public institution is not a cer- 

 tain guide to superior knowledge. If 

 you would take from the ornithological 

 literature of this country the informa- 

 tion contributed by the amateur ob- 

 servers who have in times past re- 

 corded v/hat they have learned while 

 engaged in a pleasant pastime, our 

 bird literature would indeed be atten- 

 uated. In fa'ct it would be a greater 

 loss to the bird knowledge of North 

 America to lose the contribution made 

 by the amateurs, than it would to 

 strike all that the so-called "Profes- 

 sional Ornithologist" have recorded. 



The Editor. 

 Rev. P. B. Peabody advertises an 

 Index to the New Egg Price List Cata- 

 logue, and we, though not having seen 

 one would imagine it very beneficial 

 and time saving. 



ERROR 



Our attention is called to the fact 

 that the contribution to The Oologist, 

 "Osprey that Swallowed an Eagle," 

 Vol. XXXVIII, Page 131, is in the In- 

 dex for that Volume credited to C. S. 

 Sanborn. This we regret as it was con- 

 tributed by C. S. Sharp, Escondido, 

 Calif., and especially regretable be- 

 cause of the fact that it is the second 

 error of similar character in which Mr. 

 Sharp is the sufferer. 



We frequently receive letters as 

 well as copy for The Oologist, which 

 are not signed by the contributor, 

 and it would be well if more attention 

 would be given to these matters. 



R. M. B. 



