122 
NATURE STUDY. 
A Kindly Suggestion. 
To the Editor of Nature Study : 
May I ask for a little space in the columns of Nature Study 
and permission to express humbly my feelings on a point which 
the perusal of its pages has raised in my mind. 
On p. 102 in the December number, the piesence of a worm¬ 
eating warbler in New Hampshire is mentioned, though the bird 
was apparently not shot. May I suggest that a record of this 
kind will prove nothing but a source of trouble to later bird stu¬ 
dents in New Hampshire ? It can never be accepted as authori¬ 
tative, no matter how careful the observer may be, unless the 
full details are published and the observer has an almost nation¬ 
al reputation among his fellow ornithologists. 
I do not mean to impugn in any way the accuracy of your con¬ 
tributor’s observation, but merely to call attention to the diffi¬ 
culty later ornithologists will have in handling this record when 
a new list of New Hampshire is printed ; some action will have 
to be taken on this record, and I fear that in the absence of the 
confirmatory details and other information, it will have to be 
thrown out. 
The practice of several field ornithologists whom I know is 
never to publish any record of this sort, though their names 
would carry much weight, simply to avoid the trouble that the 
record is bound to make. They have the satisfaction of having 
seen the rare bird, but they wisely deny themselves the indul¬ 
gence of proclaiming their good fortune. 
I hope that I need not say that it is because my interest in the 
Manchester Institute is very keen, and my wishes for the suc¬ 
cess of “ Nature Study ’’ very hearty, that I venture to address 
you on this point. If your journal wins at its very beginning a 
reputation for scrupulous care about such matters, it will soon 
prove a help not only to the naturalists of Manchester, but will 
also be consulted with interest by fellow naturalists throughout 
New England, and become, I trust, a model for any other city, 
