thing which promised well for Santa Barbara. Through their indulgence a little 

 museum enterprise was launched, and it was dedicated in faith to a distant fellowship 

 of oologists, whose outlines only the bird-dreamer himself pretended to discern. It was 

 trankly understood by the incorporators of the Museum of Comparative Oology that 

 this move (otherwise ill-timed enough in the midst of a great war) was the only thing 

 which would save the publishing enterprise from failure. This conviction of the 

 founders has been fully borne out by experience. The stipend afforded by the Museum 

 enabled the author not only to serve the community ot Santa Barbara as a museum 

 director, and to prepare plans tor a modest service to science itself as an exponent of 

 oology, but it enabled him, as was frankly understood by all parties immediately con- 

 cerned, to pursue field work vitally necessary to the intelligent preparation and illus- 

 tration of '"The Birds of California." The author, then, has been from the outset very 

 much beholden to these banta IJarbara triends who are primarily responsible for the 

 existence ot the M. C. O.; who alone, apparently, have tully understood his difficult 

 hnancial situation; and who have generously seconded, as they were able, his efforts to 

 keep faith with his public and to complete "The Birds of California. ' It was sup- 

 posed that a reasonably discerning public would be able to appraise the situation, and 

 to exercise a corresponding degree of patience in regard to the promised "Birds of 

 California." In especial, careful explanations of the significance of the arrangement 

 were made, or attempted, to responsible members ot the Cooper Ornithological Club, 

 Ihe organization which had generously endorsed Mr. Dawson's proposals in 1910 and 

 1911. 



.But to our pained surprise the chartering of the M. C. O. and its subsequent suc- 

 cesses seemed to be an occasion lor alarm instead. Other institutions, a tew ot them, 

 were immediately distrusttul. As time went by the word was passed around that 

 .Dawson nad quit the job. ".tie has Decome enamored with birds eggs and has tor- 

 gotten his reaf task. The .birds ot California' wilt never be published," etc., etc. 



All these things were, of course, exquisitely untrue. 1 have not now, nor ever have had, 

 any dearer ambition or more sacred trust tnan the completion and publication ol 

 "ine .birds 01 Calnornia " at the earliest moment consistent with accuracy and the 

 realization ot the highest standards 01 which i am capable, ihis object 1 should have 

 pursued were 1 behind prison bars (.where one zealous brother wanted to place me), 

 and no kind or degree ot misjudgment could operate to lorce me into putting out con- 

 sciously inferior work, faulty and insufficient as my conscious best must be. And if 

 j. were to conhde in this connection that one otherwise intelligent contemporary, under 

 alleged "pressure from the East," has declared my name taboo in its columns until 

 "The birds oi California' shall have been completed or "its puohcation assured," you 

 would have only a taint idea o: what i have been up against. 



One sure result this campaign of criticism, however motived, assuredly had. It 

 made it impossible to raise needed lunds m the name of "The birds ol Cahtornia." 

 Such a situation is exactly like a run on a bank; the more demands are made upon it, 

 the less able it is to meet those demands. For a period ot three years, therefore, we 

 neither asked nor accepted cash subscriptions to "The Birds of California" (with the 

 exception ot two gentlemen closely in touch with our affairs who generously insisted 

 upon paying tor tneir books). What we have accomplished, we have accomplished 

 through private aid, through money (six or seven thousand dollars) earned upon the 

 side, and, above all, through the cooperation of the M. C. O. As a final and clinching 

 example ot the solicitude ol the .trustees of the M. C. O. comes their recent action 

 ordering the cessation ol held activities and the devotion of the funds so available to 

 putting the last touches upon "The birds of Cahtornia" MS. Do you wonder, then, 

 that "we" are very happy and very grateful, and that we feel quite sufficiently 

 vindicated? 



but before dismissing this personal discussion of a situation which required frank 

 attention, the writer wishes to say two things: hirst; he is not cherishing any personal 

 grievance against these dear people who have been out of touch or sympathy with the 

 situation. Lite is too short tor recriminations, in any event, and impatience with an 

 author whose work is several years overdue was very natural. The situation regard- 

 ing the bird-book has been trying enough, Heaven knows, and its detailed reasons were, 

 no doubt, hard to understand. My critics, strangers for the most part, could not 

 realize that a mother would sooner torsake her child than a writer give over the prose- 

 cution of a work so boldly staged and so warmly endorsed as "The Birds of 

 California." 



And, second, 1 want to confess a measureless debt of gratitude to the discerning- 

 ones, a faithful few, who have stuck by through thick and thin, persons for the most 

 part' of limited means and heavy demands, groping their way, as we all did, through 

 trying times. The unquestioning confidence of these generous hearts has been a 

 benediction and a spur to utmost effort. And, after all, if the heart is fed, who cares 

 whether the old pocketbook be fiat or bulging! Faith bridges chasms and presses on 

 to victory, while hesitation and fear with doubt and envy, however richly clad, topple 

 over the nearest brink and so pass to oblivion. 



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