THE SCIENTIST. 
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various niotleiii modes of re|)rcsentin<>- 
objects, including in this line the use of 
the cameni, the various '-processes" for 
reproducing figures and unich more that 
relates thereto. He h;»s a Ivuowledge of 
music, and so enabled to appreciate, 
scientifically, the subject of the various 
songs and notes of bird?. He is a 
keen obsei-ver of all matters, a constant 
reader and an accurate describer (either 
verbally so or in writing) of what he 
sees. Further he possesses a good know- 
ledge of natural science in general in its 
most far-reaching sense and in particular 
a clear comprehension of the history of 
extinct forms of birds and their reptilian 
allies, of Iheir relations to existing types 
and be well read in the literature of sicli 
subjects. To this we must add a long 
and practical training and a final con- 
ception of such subjects as the physi- 
ology and psj'chology of bird life; 
the morphology of birds in its many 
details; the evolution and distribution 
of the class ; ornithological taxonomy 
and affinities and the position of this 
group of vertebrates in the system. 
Physics, chemistry aud mathematics 
will have been dealt with in his 
collegiate education and these will not 
infrequently come into use in the labors 
of the scientific ornithologist. Such an 
education becomes still more highly 
finished when the student has received a 
long practical training in the use of the 
microscope in all its branches, including 
researches in embryology and the 
histology of animal tissues and these 
latter applied especially to birds. Com- 
bine such a knowledge and the person 
who most nearly masters it, approach- 
ing the goal it represents, is in our 
estimation the type of the philosophical 
ornithologist. He becomes great when 
he gives to the world the results of his 
labors, and to attain to such usefulness 
is by no means ni these days impossible. 
Notes «y the Way. 
The attention of the Academy is called 
to a few additional observations on 
Colorado and New Mexico. My work 
has taken me over much of these 
countries, but time— the great desidera- 
tion with the observer of nature — was 
frequently lacking to reach correC" con- 
clusions. 
The distribution of timber in these 
countries is somewhat peculiar. None 
is found in the foot hills of any conse- 
quence except an occasional grove along 
some stream. These groves consist 
mainly of cotton wood, box-elder and 
white elm. The cotton woods are usually 
the narrow-leaved variety. But to the 
peculiarity. The mountains have no 
timber above 11,000 to 11,500 feet above 
sea level and they are almost equally 
destitute of timber below to 6,000 to 
6,500 feet of elevation. The timber zone 
is, then, about 5,000 feet in range of 
altitude. To fix in the mind the dis- 
tribution of timber in the mountains of 
Colorado aud New Mexico, take a dozen 
or a score of over-cup or burr oak acorns 
and set them in an irregular row to 
represent a chain of mountains. Place 
the stem ends down and the cone ends 
up . The rough over-cups will represent 
the scrubby timber, cactus and sage 
brush of the foot hills. In imagination, 
exaggerate the fringe at the top of the 
cups. Thih belt will represent the zone 
of good timber — pine, spruce, etc. — while 
the smooth shuck — pericarp — as it ex- 
tends above the fringe line — will repre- 
sent the bald mountain tops that extend 
above timber line. The timber gives 
out, as one ascends the mountain slopes, 
almost as abruptly as does the fringe on 
the acorn cup. This description may 
not be couched in the most scientific 
language, but the comparison will help 
to an understanding of the timber dis- 
tribution of the west. 
