268 Ernst Hartert : 



As they are intended for study, and not only for the officers 

 at such museums, they should be available for scientific work, 

 and should be lent and sent freely to all qualified persons. 

 If a collection is only used by a few persons, the work and 

 money spent on it is hardly justified. A large group of birds 

 can seldom be fully understood from the material in one 

 single museum, while all the series together in various 

 collections may fully elucidate it. 



Ornithology has advanced further than many other branches 

 of zoology : in Ornithology the importance of the study of geo- 

 graphical forms has been fully realised. It is now widely under- 

 stood that dreary species-mongering is not the gist of science, 

 but that the study of even the minutest geographical forms, 

 or subspecies, as they are now universally (if somewhat 

 unfortunately) called, is all-important, as it throws a new 

 light on the percej^tion of bird-life, bearing, as it does, upon 

 the development of such forms, and helping us to grasp the 

 relationship of the latter to each other. It is obviously of 

 more importance to know how a certain Wagtail differs in 

 the various parts of the area inhabited by it, than to know 

 whether there are 36 or 37 so-called species of Motacilla. In 

 order to speak of oui' objects they must have names, and 

 there are few ornithologists who still object to the simple and 

 practicable method of " trinomials," which is known to every 

 one of us. It is gaining more and more ground as it is more 

 understood, and in a very short time nobody will seriously 

 object to it. 



On the other hand, it is most important that it should be 

 understood that the naming of a form is no joke, but a serious 

 undertaking. The reckless creating of synonyms and of nude 

 names is offensive, and we must carefully consider all sides 

 of the question, and especially try to compare good series 

 before we characterise and name supposed new forms. 



Doubtless some of our friends have been hasty and gone too 

 far in some instances. Though we must go into minute 

 details if we want to be scientific, we must base our judgment 

 on as much material as possible ; we must become acquainted 

 with the various ages and seasonal changes which are produced 

 by moult and wear of plumage, etc., etc. Moreover, we must 



