THE ATLANTIC SLOPE NATURALIST. 



that we are after the dollar, first, last, 

 and all the time. Says the writer : — 

 " After all, the real question is, not 

 whether we are doing as much as other 

 people, but whether we are doing what 

 we might and ought. From this stand- 

 point our deficiencies are serious 

 enough. We are not, as yet, nearly 

 able to cope with the work that lies 

 ready to our hands. When the writer 

 was a boy he used to read and reread 

 such works as Wallace's 'Malay Archi- 

 pelago, ' and look forward to the time 

 when he, too, would travel, and would 

 discover something new. To-day, in 

 New Mexico, he would undertake to 

 find something new every day of the 

 year, if he had no other occupation ; 

 and hardly a day passes in the labora- 

 tory without the determination of some 

 new fact. But, alas ! thousands of 

 specimens remain in closed boxes be- 

 cause there is nobody to work upon 

 them ; dozens of promising investiga- 

 tions are never undertaken because 

 there is nobody to undertake them. 

 Buildings, apparatus, and books are 

 well enough in their way ; but the 

 great need is for workers to make use 

 of what is already gathered and ready 

 for use, and to take up the threads of 

 thought which flow from every investi- 

 gation and follow them to the end. 

 While we are seeking to add to the 

 number of workers something should 

 also be said about their quality. Un- 

 doubtedly, there is too much narrow- 

 ness, and too little general culture, an 

 outward and visible sign of which is 

 the bad Latin published by many of 

 the younger men in the form of zoo- 

 logical names. At the meetings of 

 the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science there are 

 sections of zoology, botany, geology, 

 anthropology, etc., all in session 

 simultaneously. The writer found it 

 extremely annoying that he could not 

 be in two or more places at the same 

 time, but very few seemed to see any 

 objection to the arrangement. This 

 indicates limitations which must be 



regretted, and it is hard to believe that 

 they are inevitable. When the zoolo- 

 gist ceases to know anything about the 

 plants animals cat, or the physical en- 

 vironment in which they live, or even 

 the animals of other groups than his 

 own specialty, the broader ideas of 

 biology will become obscure and evolu- 

 tion itself will cease to be intelligible, 

 just as architecture is nothing to him 

 who studies only single and isolated 

 bricks. ' ' 



THE MOCKING BIRD IN MONT- 

 GOMERY COUNTY, PENNA. 

 Near Colmar, Montgomery County, 

 Pennsylvania, on July 9, 1902, I took 

 an adult male mocking bird (Afimus 

 polyglottos), which was in rather poor 

 condition, the primaries and tail 

 feathers being considerably worn. 



The bird had been noticed for two 

 or three days previously in company 

 with several robins, feeding in the 

 barn-yards of a farm-house, about a 

 mile and a half from Colmar station 

 on the Reading Railroad. 



Walton I. Mitchell, 

 1721 Mt. Vernon Street, 



Philadelphia, Pa. 



AN UNUSUAL FLICKER ABODE. 

 The most unusual site for a yellow- 

 shafted flicker {Colaptes auratus) to 

 take for its abode that I ever observed, 

 or heard of, was one which came under 

 my observation some few years ago, it 

 being in a telegraph pole, which had 

 been hollowed out, along the New York 

 Division of the Reading Railroad. 

 The pole was situated about the usual 

 distance from the tracks that poles 

 usually are; trains were passing here 

 every few minutes during the day, and 

 it seemed to me very strange and inter- 

 esting that a pair of flickers should 

 select such a site for their abode and 

 resting place. The locality was in 

 Montgomery Co. , Pa. , about a dozen 

 miles north of Philadelphia. 



W. E. R. 



