Page:Condor16(3).djvu/17

 May, 1914 BIRD NOTES FROM NETARTS BAY, OREGON 115 Peck showed each stride to be six inches in length when the bird was running fast. A1olara virgata. Surf-bird. On December 31, a cold, stormy day when the sleet-laden wind dashed the ocean spray high up on the rocks, we found a small flock of these hardy biyd near Cape Meares, feeding about on the more sheltered rocks in company with a flock of Black Turnstones. The place was visited ggain in March, but. no Surf-birds were seen. Arenari melnocephal. Black Turnstone. During September this spe- cies was seen several times.feeding on the sandy ocean beach to the north. During January and March the birds were found only. on the rocky beach, where a flock of ten or twelve was seen each time the place was visited. Haematopus bacltmani. Black Oystercatcher. This strange, shy bird was seen every time I.made my way among the rocks in the vicinity of Cape Meares. Found usually in two's or three's, but on January 2, I saw a flock of a dozen or more. The Oystercatcher feeds on the marine life found growing on the rocks and to my knowledge never seeks food in any other place. The species was fairly c. ommon during May. It is known to breed on Three Arch Rocks. State' Fish and Game Office, Portland, Oregon, February $, 94. A SADLY NEGLECTED MATTER By ALLAN BROOKS N THAT ost of all collector 's manualS, Ridgway's "Directions for Collect- ing Birds", published in 1891, there occur the following passages in de- scribing the preliminaries to skinning the specimen: "No measurements are necessary since all measurements of scientific value are best taken from the dried skin. * * * Then if there are any noteworthy features as to color of soft parts they should be carefully noted, this being a very important matter and one sadly neglected by collectors." How often have I recognized the truth of the last remark when examining the labels of birds collected by American ornithologists. In my own collec- tion not two per cent other than those taken by .myself have any data as to color of soft parts. The worst offenders are the ornithologists of California. Among several hundred skins, collected by a dozen or mo re men, mostly well known to science, only one has any record of this sort,--a California Wood- pecker collected in the early eighties and which bears the simple legend "eyes white ' '. Specimens taken by European collectors usually have very complete data in this respect, and all their works of reference pay especial attention to the subject. As an instance I may cite Oates' "Game Birds of India", a tiny duo- decimo volume intended for the use of the sportsman. In its small compass eighty-eight species of upland game birds are treated: Habits, recognition marks, descriptions, nldification, measurements, weights, and, in nearly every species, a full record of colors of soft parts. The utter indifference of even the best ornithologists of America to this "very important matter" has been brought home to me rather forcibly by a