GHILLYING FOR SCIENCE—ROD OR NET?

I suppose the first duty of a hunter's servant is to know what kind of quarry the laird is looking for. In the great field sport of information, I often think that we serve a remarkably inarticulate gathering of lairds. True, he will probably specify fish or fowl, but he leaves you to guess whether he wants a fine trout or a shoal of minnows. The statistical laird (if we may invent so unlikely an abstraction) needs either, of course—and at his own choice; but even so you usually have to be a thought reader before you reach for the rod or the net, as the case may be.