Page:Bird-lore Vol 04.djvu/38

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Bird Clubs in America
17

occupied themselves largely with the more technical branches of the study. Most new clubs, I take it, will devote themselves more to observation than to the examination of skins and will be especially interested in the brand-new art of bird-photography. They will wish, too, to systematize their work much more than has been possible for the Nuttall Club in recent years, and in this way they can accomplish much not only for their members but for the science which they are cultivating.

One of the first things a new club in a comparatively unworked region should do is to map out the fauna of its locality. and to compile migration data. This sort of thing can be done to much better advantage by cooperative work, of course, than by unorganized individual effort. Then there are countless other branches of study that may be taken up in ths same systematic manner. Members should be encouraged, however, in investigation on independent lines, and some time should be made at each meeting for general notes of interest from observations in the field. Ornithological science has nearly as many branches as there are individual tastes and temperaments. and it is easy to conceive of a club of almost any size, each member of which should have his own particular specialty, while interested too in what every other member is doing—making it his ambition to know something of everything in ornithology, and everything of something. Perhaps such an organization would, after all, be the ideal bird club.

A WINTER VISITOR

Pine Grosbeak photographed from life, by Martha W. Brooks, at Petersham, Mass., March 17, 1900