Is Aviculture a Science? 369


While the above statements evidence a breadth of view

unusual amongst the majority of systematic Ornithologists, at

the same time they are only an expression of the individual judg-

ment of a first-class systematist : and the implication that the

stud}'- of bird-life is unscientific, because fascinating, and the

study of dead birds is scientific because it necessitates close

study and mental fag, is to my mind unsound and illogical.


Science is the acquisition of knowledge, in fact it is

knowledge ; and whatever secrets of Nature we discover, whether

they deal with the external or internal anatomy, or whether they

deal with the habits of an animal, are of scientific value. But

there is this difference between the work of the student of life

and the student of death ; the former deals with facts and facts

only (though he may theorize as a result of his discoveries); he

deals direct with Nature and truth, and what he records, if he be

an accurate observer, is immutable and a definite gain to science ;

the latter also deals with facts, but interprets them according to

his own judgment ; and thus often misleads subsequent workers.

In some cases a single structural peculiarity is assumed to be all-

important, and a classification built up upon that alone, and later

on it is discovered that this peculiarity is variable ; then the

little brick castle is demolished and another is built on an

entirely different plan.


Systematic Ornithology is akin to an effort of the finite

to compass the infinite (an admirable exercise in which we are

doubtless fated to indulge into the ewigkeit). Without the Aves of

the world, since they first came into existence until the present

time, to study from ; no absolute certainty can ever be attained

to respecting the evolution of existing types : we may have con-

victions and form shrewd opinions, but we can never know for

certain.


The study of classification is quite as fascinating in its

way as the study of habits, and each succeeding strenuous worker

probably gets a little nearer to the truth ; but the careful

observer of the living creature starts with the truth, and keeps

on building up a structure of facts which cannot be overthrown.

Is his labour then less scientific because it is not subject to man's

criticism and unalterable, because it is a definite gain to hlmrarT



