Bulletin No. 14. 33 



"common", "tolerably common", "abundant", "rare", etc, which we 

 constantly meet with, do not tell the story. To get any adequate concep- 

 tion of the various relations of different genera and species throughout 

 the country we need to make an approximate estimate of their numerical 

 relations based on reliable data from different localities. Lay out a giv- 

 en section, however small, a pasture, a swamp-lot, or an orchard and 

 count the exact number of each species you find present at a certain time 

 It is evident that by laying meadow to pasture and swamp to copse one 

 may obtain a fairly accurate estimate of the bird population. 



These two plans are submitted to the Chapter as forming the present 

 work of the Committee on geographical distribution. The first must 

 necessarily be continued for a term of ) r ears to be of more than individ- 

 ual value, but it is believed that it will, as a skeleton or framework of 

 field observations, provoke a discriminating interest in the birds afield, 

 which alone would be worth the trouble, and that if carried on it will af- 

 ford useful material for correlation papers. 



The second plan is evidently available for immediate service although 

 publications cannot be undertaken until some considerable number of 

 censuses have come in. All those who are willing to undertake this 

 work are asked to submit their results to the chairman of the Committee 

 for correlation and ultimate publication. W. L. Dawson, Oberlin, 0. 



EDITORIAL. 



When does the Whippoorwill arrive at your station ? When does the 

 Purple Martin arrive at your station ? This information is earnestly 

 desired from every member so that a record of the movements can 

 be made, and the controversy over earliest arrivals settled. Write your 

 earliest records for these two species on a postal card and mail to the 

 editor at once. The records of previous years would also be welcome. 



We gladly note the growing success of the new ornithological art peri- 

 odical, "'■Birds" published by the Nature Study Publishing Company of 

 Chicago. It has come to fill a want long felt and gives promise of being 

 able both to interest the uninitiated and to delight the professed votaries 

 of the birds. Each month a varied assortment of mounted bird groups 

 from all climes is reproduced in colors, and every plate is accompanied 

 by a simple descriptive text, together with a short talk to the children 

 purporting to be by the bird itself. 



Numbers 1-4 of the monthly have appeared, and while all the plates 



