twenty-five or thirty years. While our building plans have been necessarily somewhat 

 delayed by the war, we expect conditions to right themselves within a year or so; 

 and are planning to start construction not later than March 1, 1921. The adoption 

 of a consistent plan of unit construction imparts to the whole a very desirable flexi- 

 bility. A modest beginning can be made at the favorable time, with two, or at most 

 three, buildings, and the number of buildings can be increased from year to year as 

 the requirements of increasing specimens demand. 



For a somewhat fuller discussion of our aims and functions, the reader is referred 

 to another article entitled "Museum Functions". 



OUR LOCATION. 



Men are born where God wills, but the elect escape to New York. So at least thinks 

 the New Yorker. And there are those who take it for granted that anything worth 

 while will report in sooner or later at some metropolis, and, that in the meantime it 

 is perfectly safe to neglect it. But an institution, unlike a man, may choose the place 

 of its birth, and it may present sound reasons for its choice. The Museum of 

 Comparative Oology did not just happen to start life in Santa Barbara; and it is 

 cherishing no hopes of being "promoted" to Los Angeles, or San Francisco, or New 

 York. The M. C. O. chose Santa Barbara for a birthplace, because it seemed to 

 present definite advantages over any other place in the world. Perhaps it will be 

 worth while to inquire what those advantages are. 



The basic advantage is that of climate. The writer has never been in the Vale 

 of Kashmir, nor yet in Riviera district of France; but those who have assure him 

 that neither of those justly lauded paradises will compare with Santa Barbara in point 

 of the year-round excellence of its climate. Within the memory of man its rigors 

 have never crossed the danger line of destructive fros"t; while the ardors of its mid- 

 summer are almost invariably veiled till early midday by a heavenly chiffon of kindly 

 fog. Winds are infrequent and unfeared. Rains are usually ample and rarely obtru- 

 sive; while the rule of life is sunshine — sunshine everywhere. In winter, especially, 

 the scent of unblighted lemons perfumes the air, while flowers of forty species and birds 

 of thrice two-score species gladden a February which in other longitudes is a prey to 

 ceaseless quarrels between rime and sleet. 



Specifically, the climate of Santa Barbara favors the preservation of birds' eggs. 

 The occasional dampness of the atmosphere is never protracted to the point of injury. 

 The ravages of the fungus disease, Penicillium, which are despoiling many eastern col- 

 lections of birds' eggs, are unknown in this section; and specimens which are found 

 to be infected upon arrival soon lose their noxious growth. On the other hand, the 

 dryness of our climate is not excessive, nor are those conditions present which in some 

 other climates appear to "draw the strength" of an egg, no matter how well protected. 



Santa Barbara, doubtless because of its climate and its sheltered position, is 

 beloved of the birds. Although comparable in this respect to other coastal sections of 

 California, its winter population of birds is probably in excess of any other region in 

 the United States. For some eight year past, or since observations in this line have 

 been carried out, Santa Barbara has held the leading position in repect to "one-party- 

 lists" of birds reported in "Bird-Lore's" Christmas Census. On December 24, 1918, 

 the writer identified 110 species of birds between dawn and dusk, all within twelve 

 miles of Santa Barbara. We believe, therefore, that this is an ideal location for the 

 study of bird life; and so for the establishment of a museum devoted solely to birds. 



And the climate is responsible again for the steady influx of a selected population, 

 the exact duplicate of which does not exist elsewhere. One must speak circum- 

 spectly here. Not all the wealth nor all the culture of America is gathered in Santa 

 Barbara during the winter season, but so much of both and that so well blended, 

 that we are forced to recognize the unique opportunity and the unique responsibility 

 which exists in this community with regard to any public service. Especially within 

 the last few years our growth has been so rapid that we must now reckon our common 

 fortune in billions, instead of millions. It is no longer possible to publish lists of 

 notable visitors, nor indeed to keep track of all the gifted and honored, the world's 

 men and women of affairs among us, who seek rest or congenial association, or per- 

 chance, a temporary oblivion. 



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