Page:Bird-lore Vol 04.djvu/188

 Editorials

birds in nature, and familiarity, at least. with the local fauna. (2 l A good field- or opera—glass. (3) Opportunity to ob- serve the bird closely and repeatedly with the light at one’s back, (4) A detailed description of the plumage, appearance, ac- tions and notes (if any) of the bird, writ- ten while it istlnder observation. (5) Ex- amination of a specimen of the supposed species to conﬁrm one’s identiﬁcation. Even with these conditions fulﬁlled, our belief in the correctness of an observer‘s identiﬁcation would depend upon the possibility of the occurrence of the species said to have been For example, the presence of an inditvidim/ hird at a given locality, either as an escape or astray, is always possible. provided the bird has sniiicient power of ﬂight to enable it to make long journe‘ . or could endure caged life. But when we receive news of the observation, in large numbers and frequently, of some species which has never been seen within two or three thousand miles of the place whence our correspondent reports it, we feel assured that an error has been made in identification,

After all, the discovery of one new fact

seen,

in the life history of the most common spe— cies is of greater importance than the cap- ture, with gun or glass, of a bird which, like thousands of birds before it, has lost its way and wandered to parts uninhabited by its species.

A Debt oi Bird Students

No science in this country has been more beneﬁtted by organization than that of ornithology,throtigh the formation, in 1883. of the American Ornitholo sts‘ Wholly apart from the Union's work in inaugurating systematic observations on the migration of birds, in supporting a journal of ornithology, and in establishing and maintaining a committee on bird protection which for the past eighteen years has been actively engaged in the work of bird preser- vation, the Union brought order out of chaos in formulating a code of nomenclature for zoologists and in publishing an author- itative ‘Check-List’ of North American birds,

Union.

167

wherein, as a result of the labors of the Union’s Committee on Classiﬁcation and Nomenclature. the views of various orni- thologists were harmonized and for the first time in many years we had one standard system of nomenclature and classiﬁcation. Nor did the labors of this committee end with the publication of the ‘CheckeLlst,’ annual meetings now being held to pa upon the systematic work of the preceding year, so far as it affects American birds, so that the 1 'man is kept thorougth abreast of the times by a committee of experts. in whose judgment he may have complete conﬁdenct‘.

Amateur ornithologists in America are, therefore. far more deeply indebted to the good ofﬁces of the Union than they realize. and they should acknowledge the assistance which, directly or indirectly. they have re» ceived from it by showing sufﬁcient interest in the welfare of the Union to lend it their personal support. Every student of birds in America should be a member of the American Ornithologists' Union, and there are probably none who are not eligible as candidates for election to its recently formed class of Associates, which is composed wholly of amateurs. three dollars, in return for which the mem» ber receives a Cupy of the Union's ofﬁcial magazine, "The Auk,‘ a quarterly, each volume of which contains about aoo pages,

The annual dues are

and, what is even more important, he has the satisfaction of knowing that he is identified with an organization of kindred spirits, to which is largely due the present widespread interest in bird-study in this country.

The Union meets annually, and the Congress for the present year will be held in the United States National Museum, at Washington, D. C.. November 18-20. We hope all the readers of BIRD»LOKE who can attend this twentieth Congress of the Union do so. but. in any event, whether or not it is po. le for them to be present, we trust they will not fail to apply for Associate Membership Union to its treasurer. William Dutclrer. at 525 Manhattan avenue. New York cit

will

in the