﻿Field and Forest 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL 



DEVOTED TO THE NATURAL SCIENCES. 



Vol. II.— JANUARY, 1877.— No. 7- 



The Tendency in Birds to Vary their Habits. 



In its entirety, North American ornithology has reached an acme, 

 beyond which, perhaps, is precluded a further general advance. This 

 growth of the science — more rapid than in any other country — is due, 

 partly to the support it has received from government ; partly to the 

 accumulation of material by private workers, in whom may be seen ex- 

 pressed the impulse given by Alexander Wilson near the beginning of 

 this century ; and mainly to the indefatigable labors of our ornitholo- 

 gists in collating and organizing a great mass of facts into a complete, 

 rounded whole. 



While we have thus a beautiful science, — reliable in its technical de- 

 scriptions, interesting in its biographical portions, apparently natural 

 in its classification, — it is limited mainly to recording observed facts, 

 (the ultimata of some ornithologists) and displays little of what may 

 be called philosophic ornithology ; i. e. explaining the cause where the 

 effect is so well known. 



Unfortunately for the science, many writers frequently engage in 

 hopeless wrangles about mere names of species ; filling the magazines 

 with an almost useless mass of literature ; and creating a vast number 

 of specific designations which will, if the practice continue, stifle our 

 already over-burdened synonomy. Although it is desirable to have 

 definitive appellations for the birds, it is also desirable that these shall 

 be applied without detriment to the science ; without hatching a super- 

 abundant synonomy, and wasting the valuable time of our scientists. 



