178 TEXAS AND ARIZONA 



half of the work ; but he must not expect to ac- 

 complish with a glass and patience exactly what 

 another man accomplishes with powder and shot 

 and a pair of dividers. In the study of orni- 

 thology, as elsewhere, there are diversities of 

 operations, and possibly not the same spirit. 



If I cannot be certain whether the vesper 

 sparrows I saw to-day were light-colored enough 

 to pass for Pooecetes gramineus confinis, or were 

 probably nothing but plain Pooecetes gramineus, 

 I must put up with my ignorance, distressing as 

 it is. Possibly, if I were to see species and sub- 

 species side by side, even in the field, I could tell 

 them apart ; possibly I could not. Whether their 

 songs differ, is a point concerning which my book, 

 after the manner of books, has nothing to offer ; 

 and as the birds are now dumb, there is nothing 

 for me to do but to call them vesper sparrows, 

 and await developments. 



And some things can be settled, even in Texas, 

 with no weapon but a field-glass. I know, for 

 example, that I have to-day seen Mexican gold- 

 finches, and Arctic towhees, and red-shafted 

 flickers. That is more than half a loaf, by a good 

 deal, and several times better than no bread. 



