THE OOLOGIST 



137 



NEW PRICE LIST VALUES 



My dear Mr. Barnes: 



In the June number of "The Oologist" 

 is an article by the Rev. P. B. Peabody 

 relating to a' "lacuna" in the new Ex- 

 change Price List of North American 

 Birds' Eggs. I am bound to admit that 

 I do not know the exact technical 

 meaning of "lacuna," but Mr. Peabody 

 in this case makes it clear that he 

 means the omission of his list of new- 

 ly described sub-species in the a'bove 

 mentioned price list . 



Before going any further I should 

 like to make the statement that Mr. 

 Peabody did, perhaps, more work on 

 the catalog than any other one com- 

 mitteeman. He prepared two price 

 lists, as well as the list of sub-species 

 that he thought would be added by the 

 ^. O. U. to the Check-list of North 

 American Birds. This a'cknowledge- 

 ment of his services may be a little 

 late in coming, but it is none the less 

 sincere, and too much credit cannot 

 be given him. He also gave his views 

 as to what prices should be fixed on 

 these new sub-species. 



Now as to his list of new sub- 

 species: I may be altogether wrong, 

 but I believe that at the time and have 

 since had no reason to change my 

 mind, that it would be a great mis- 

 take to publish any such list before it 

 appears in printed form as a supple- 

 ment to the check-list. Many pro- 

 posed changes in nomenclatures and 

 suggested new sub-species are printed 

 in "The Auk" from time to time. In 

 fact, there has been such a veritable 

 barrage in the past few years with 

 counter attacks suggesting the elimina- 

 tion of species and sub-species that 

 have stood in the check-list for years, 

 that it seemed and seems to me ex- 

 ceedingly premature to publish any 

 values on them at present. In my 

 opinion it is utterly impossible to 

 foretell or prophesy what will appear 



in the new supplement to the check- 

 list until it is duly compiled and put 

 before us in print. It is very much 

 harder to undo mistakes of this nature 

 than it is to do them, 

 not put before all of the committeemen, 

 not put before all of the commiteemen, 

 although for several reasons I wished 

 many times that this could be done. 

 However, there were so many in- 

 evitable heartbreaking delays in get- 

 ting out the catalog that the above 

 was not done. I am perfectly willing 

 to accept all blame for this myself. 



Now for my idea of what should be 

 done, for I fully agree with Mr. Pea- 

 body that the work of the committee 

 is unfinished. I suggest that when the 

 A. O. U. issues the next supplement 

 to the checklist, and not before, our 

 committees, place values on these new 

 additions and also follow the example 

 of the A. O. U. as to the eliminations. 

 To this should be added a correction 

 of the very few mistakes in the new 

 catalog as to prices. In comparing it 

 with the original list made out by the 

 Final Values Committee I have found 

 only three such mistakes which are as 

 follows: Wood Duck is priced at |3.00, 

 but should be $5.'00; Seattle Wren at 

 50c, but should be 80c; Chestnut- 

 backed Bluebird at 15c, should be 50c. 

 To make only three mistakes out of a 

 possible thousand is certainly a great 

 tribute to everyone connected with 

 the printing of the catalog. 



J. Hooper Bowles, 

 Chairman of the Committee on 

 Final Values. 

 July 15, 1922. Tacoma, Wash. 



COMPLETE FILES 



We wish more of the subscribers to 

 The Oologist who complete files of 

 this publication would advise us of 

 that fact as we are trying to prepare 

 as complete a list of those having 

 such files as possible. — R. M. B. 



