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Bird -Lore 



iltrti itore 



A Bi-monthly Magazine 

 Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds 



OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE AUDUBON SOCIETIES 



Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN 

 Published by D. APPLETON & CO. 



Vol. XII Published August 1. 1910 No. 4 



SUBSCRIPTION RATES 



Price in the United States. Canada and Mexico twenty cents 

 number, one dollar a year, postage paid. 



COPYRIGHTED, 1910. BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



Bird-Lore's Motto: 

 A Bird in the Bush is IVorth Two in the Hand 



The 'Supplements' to the A. O. U. 

 'Check-List' of North American birds 

 were published with the admirable pur- 

 pose of keeping the List up to date, but 

 they have resulted in largely destroying 

 its value as a work of reference. While 

 those actively engaged in ornithological 

 research posted the various changes and 

 additions announced in the fifteen Supple- 

 ments which have been issued since the 

 publication of the second edition in 1895, 

 into their Check-Lists, this was not to 

 be expected of the public at large, which, 

 consequently, for many years has had 

 no one book containing an authoritative 

 Check-List of the scientific and popular 

 names of North American birds. 



It is to be hoped therefore, that the 

 A. O. U. will permit the third edition of 

 its Check-List, which has just been issued, 

 to remain a standard, usable, dictionary, 

 so to speak, of the names and ranges of 

 North American birds, until circumstances 

 warrant the publication of a fourth edi- 

 tion, or at least of a revised and complete 

 list of names. 



The resignation of Dr. C. Hart Mer- 

 riam as Chief of the Biological Survey of 

 the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture, in order that, free from executive 

 cares he may devote his entire attention to 

 scientific work under a fund established by 

 Mrs. E. H. Harriman, closes a chapter in the 

 history of one of the most important epochs 

 in the studv of our birds and mammals. 



Dr. Merriam not only formed the Bureau 

 of Biological Survey (in 1885, as the Divi- 

 sion of Ornithology and Mammalogy) and 

 originated field and laboratory methods 

 which have made it the most efficient in- 

 vestigating force of its kind in the world, 

 but he unconsciously formed, at the same 

 time, a school in which many of the lead- 

 ing naturalists of the day have received 

 an invaluable training. 



The appointment of Dr. Merriam"s 

 former Chief Assistant, Mr. Henry \V. 

 Henshaw as his successor, is an assurance 

 that the Survey will continue to render an 

 increasingly effective service to the pub- 

 lic, and without reservation, therefore, we 

 may congratulate ourselves that Dr. 

 Merriam is now in a position to give to the 

 the world the fruits of his prolonged 

 studies of the .\merican fauna. 



As the lines of bird protection are 

 drawn closer, the 'Cat Question' becomes 

 correspondingly acute. We commend, 

 therefore, both to the friends and enemies 

 of Tabby. Dr. Hunt's article on the sub- 

 ject in this issue of Bird-Lore. The 

 methods of relief she suggests have been 

 proposed before, but she puts the case 

 very clearly and in a way which should 

 appeal to the good judgment of those on 

 both sides of it. 



Aside from Dr. Hunt's and other articles 

 on the destructiveness of cats, this issue of 

 Bird-Lore contains several brief but sug- 

 gestive papers on ways and means of in- 

 creasing our bird population. 



Mr. Schreiman"s report on the results 

 following a distribution of the National 

 Association's leaflet on the Purple Martin 

 shows what can be done by a little well-di- 

 rected work of this kind; Professor Bene- 

 dict's description of the Mary M. Emery 

 Bird Reserve and of the jilans for its devel- 

 opment, suggests untold possibilities in this 

 direction, and in Mr. Mc.\tee's pamphlet 

 on plants which will attract birds, which is 

 briefly reviewed on a preceding page, there 

 is much practical information for those 

 who would increase the numbers of 

 birds either in reserves or about their 

 own homes. 



