246 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BIRD WORLD 
jority of them have no beauty, and are as meaningless as 
marbles. The pursuit of them is interesting, I grant, but the 
possession nearly always palls. The collector of eggs destroys 
life, fearfully, and has for all his labors and his pains only such 
as this:—O O Oo. 
If you think enough of birds to mount, or have mounted, 
every fine specimen that you kill—aside from legitimate game 
—then you may be justified in forming a collection. There 
is some excuse for collections of well-mounted birds, especially 
those that are presented to schools, where thousands of young 
people may study them; but wild life is now becoming so 
scarce that the making of large private collections, for the 
benefit of one man, is a sin against Nature. 
Tue REASONABLE Stupy oF Brrps.—In studying birds, 
do not be narrow! Use the field-glass, the camera and pencil, 
rather than the shotgun and the microscope. Any fool with 
a gun can kill a bird; but it takes intelligence and skill to 
photograph one. 
It is not at all necessary that people generally should be 
able to name correctly every bird that the forest and field 
may disclose. Many species of warblers, and sparrows, and 
larger birds also, are so much alike that it is very difficult 
for any one save a trained ornithologist to analyze them cor- 
rectly. The general public is not interested in differences 
that are nearly microscopic. When birds and mammals can- 
not be recognized without killing them, and removing their 
skulls, it is quite time to draw the line. 
It is entirely possible for any intelligent person to become 
well acquainted with at least one hundred and twenty-five 
