Gl. MH R.s AU Di BIO NOOR UL ere 
What Are YOU Finding’?’—An Editorial 
By JOHN BAYLESS 
THE ‘‘PROGRESS REPORT” by Edward R. Ford and Philip A. DuMont 
should emphasize to all of us a serious weakness in our organization. 
This weakness is a failure by too many of us to communicate to others 
what we are learning in our field trips. Look over their list of birds 
which have nested in the Chicago region but on which no report is avail- 
able in recent years. Have these birds deserted our area? You can probably 
answer this with an emphatic negative in the case of at least a few. You 
know where they nest each year, and a few of your field companions also 
know. You regarded them as common, and never thought to mention them 
to others. Some other members, though, who may be as active field workers 
as you, may have searched other parts of the area diligently and never 
happened to find these birds. 
“Florida gallinule, ’32; black tern, 733.” Both these birds nest regularly 
in Lake Calumet, and the young of both may be found in numbers in July 
along with the young of the coot, pied-billed grebe, and ruddy duck. The 
short-billed marsh wren sings his gay imitation of the dickcissel there in 
May, but does he, like the long-billed marsh wren, spend the summer there 
and raise a family? I do not. know, but maybe some of you do. We heard 
him last this summer on June 1. The long-billed continued into August. 
The point I am trying to make is what good does it do for me to have 
these facts in my personal records if such data are not shared? In a 
conversation with a small group of ornithologists the other day (real ones, 
not just bird watchers like me) the subject of the yellow-headed blackbird 
came up. One, who is not as active in field work now as he would like to 
be, said it was strange that none of these birds were in the immediate 
Chicago area. I told him of the half dozen or so pairs which appear each 
April on the 110th st. dike in Lake Calumet and stay through July, and 
of having seen others in the marsh southeast of Barrington, Ill. This was 
news not only to him but to another in the group. 
It should not be necessary for a bird student to seek out the one to a 
dozen persons who happen to know where a particular bird may be ex- 
pected to be found. If a strange bird like the large-billed tern from South 
America shows up, this is spread quickly by word of mouth and even rates 
a story in the newspapers. The fact that the black-crowned night herons 
are plentiful and wood ducks and king rails nest at Long John lake on 
Willow Springs road (104th ave. at 95th st.) may not rate a mention in 
the daily papers, but should be worth a sentence in the Audubon Bulletin. 
The ruby-throated hummingbird was found at its nest in the May tour of 
Indiana Dunes park along Trail 2 by members of the Chicago Ornithological 
Society. Yet 1937 was the latest record Mr. Ford and Mr. DuMont were 
able to find. 
While going over your records for the answers to questions raised in 
the “Progress Report” ask yourself whether this item or that might not be 
