16 Bird-Lore
or another may be of interest to the readers of this article. One is recorded under date of April I, 1876—the same evening, by the way. when young Henry D. Minot. then a boy of sixteen. was elected a resident member. “Mr. Brewster spoke of the nesting of P. [:Pj'rgim] domerlim [now called Pan-er (ID/Ilt’SfllfllS] in a box on his grounds. The nest at date was apparently finished. but the eggs not laid."
This was in the early days of the Sparrow invasion! Two years later. January 28. [878. a memorable discussion of the "so-called English Sparrow question” was held, in which Messrs. J. A. Allen, NIinot. Roose~ velt, Ruthven Deane. Brewster. Frazar. and others took part; the evi- dence was decidedly against the bird. and no advocates appeared. The Mr. Roosevelt just mentioned was the same Theodore Roosevelt who is now President of the United States. He had become a member of the Club in the preceding November, and the records show him to have taken an active part in its meetings for some time, Other active members in the early days were Messrs. Allen. Brewster. Deane, and Purdie.
There are no special requisites ior membership in the Nuttall Club beyond a good moral character. a genuine interest in the study of birds, a reputation for accurat . and those qualities of mind and heart which make a man ‘ clubable.‘ It is natural that many of the new members should be recruited from that other Cambridge institution, Harvard College. and the freshman age forms practically the lower age limit for admission. There is no limit at the other end of the scale on this side of 'senility. but natur— ally most of the new members are young men of limited experience in ornithological work. On the other hand a number of the older members have achieved distinction in the scientific world, and thus it comes about that there are really two elements in the Club, though of course no hard and fast line can be drawn between them, and nothing but the best of feeling exists. The very best results come to the individual members from this association of youth and enthusiasm on the one hand and age and experience on the other. but it is easy to see that but little organized work can be accomplished.
Just how far, therefore, the Nuttall Ornithological Club can be taken as a safe and profitable guide in the formation and management of new bird clubs. it is rather difficult to say. It is obvious that the needs of most such new bodies must be very different from those of an old club composed of men of all ages and of every grade of attainment in scientific study, numbering among its Resident h/Iembers seven Fellows, one Corresponding Fellow, six Members. and many Associates of the American Ornithologists’ Union, and occupying a territory which has been more closely examined ornithologically than any other in this country The beginnings of the Nuttall Club. too, were at a very differ- ent period of ornithological history from the present. The earlier meeting
