Page:Condor17(5).djvu/39

Sept., 1915 COMMUNICATIONS wisher as myself, a little counsel regarding a difficult task, as well as a friendly plea on behalf of a long-suffering and somewhat neglected race, viz., the scientific collectors. I shall not presume to speak of all collect- ors, either. The collector of birds, the "skin- man", has legitimate aims and as good a license as any; but he is quite able to speak for himself. All I kuow is that a dead bird sings no songs and lays no eggs; whereas a hen deprived of her egg presently lays another and cackles as merrily as be- fore. I belong to that humble class which finds in the collecting of birds' nests and eggs a solace and inspiration elsewhere de- nied; and I suppose I may speak for the o51ogical fraternity with some degree of confidence. In exercising the authority conferred upon you by Section 637e of our political code, you will wish to adjudicate fairly between the paramount interests of conservatiou and the desires of the collector. You will, doubtless, wish to deal frankly and liberally with the scientist in order that he may feel encouraged in his pursuit of kuowledge, in- stead of finding himself an object of suspi- cion, hindered and repressed. Lastly, you will wish to be impartial in all your deal- ings, and to place all collectors upon an equal footing, as is becoming in a democ- racy. To treat these matters in reverse order, and to speak of equal dealing first: The lan- guage of Section 637e gives you great dis- cretion as to what constitutes proper cre- dentials; but it is manifest that a standard once adopted should apply impartially to all applicants. It would be as unlawful as it would be unfair, for instance, to permit one applicant to collect without limit, while another of the same age, but possessed of less funds, or "Influence", or supposed prominence, should be restricted to "two sets each of non-game birds". While the lan- guage of the statute is permissive in saying that "certificates may be granted", it is ex? ceedingly doubtful whether any court would uphold you in denying a certificate to any "properly accredited person" while you were issuing such to others. If, however, it should seem, for economic reasons, desir- able to restrict the total number of licenses (a situation which is quite unlikely to arise with the present trend of events), it would be fair to impose'restrictions upon younger and presumably less serious collectors, upon stated terms of equality for that age. It would be no essential hardship, for in- stance, to require a boy of twelve to confine himself to a single set of eggs of each spe- cies per season. By the time he is eighteen he will either have dropped his boyish fad, or else have demonstrated his fitness to col- lect without limit other than that imposed by the general condition of all licenses. Similarly, and with all due respect, it seems to me that the Commision has no right, either moral or legal, to restrict the collection of the eggs of game birds within limits narrower than that of the total lawful kill of a sportsman for a season. I do not shoot Valley Quaff myself, but is my lawful claim upon the quail population any less than that of my sportsman brother who shoots his little twenty per diem? See, that gives him a possible 610 in one season, does it not? Well, I take a couple of sets of twelve eggs each for my annual portion (raise 'era on my own place too). Upon what moral grounds shall I be reproved and my brother commended? Moreover (and this is important), eggs are replaceable the some season; birds are not. This is a tender subject for discussion, I know; but I am sure that our sportsman friends, those who practically have both the enactment and enforcement of all game laws in their hands, will want to be fair with us. Sport in the open begets a spirit of fairness, does it not? Truth to tell, science needs especial en- couragement at this time. By "science" I do not, of course, mean egg-collecting as a fad, as a mere instance of the working of the acquisitive instinct; but I mean that knowledge and power, and that love of the truth, which comes of first-hand contact with nature out-of-doors, and of attentive familiarity with her objects indoors. The aspirations and operations of zoological science have suffered not a little, of late, from repression, from sentimental jeal- ousies, and from the constrictions of official. red tape. This has begotten a contemptuous disregard of law on the part of those who have known better days, and an avoidance of this entire field of effort on the part of the younger generation. Both of these re- sults are deplorable; and it may be your happy task, by your fairmindedness and sympathy and by your prompt consideration of all applications, to bring about a better understanding between lawfully constituted authority and scientific initiative. There is sad lack of such understanding today..Not half of the o61ogical collecting now being done in America is done under license; and the knowledge of this fact on the part of the conscientious element among collectors themselves, together with a knowledge of the red-tape and picayune surveillance exer- cised over the most conscientious, has em- bittered the whole situation. As an example