Editorial 



203 



ilirD Eore 



A Bimonthly Maeazine 

 Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds 



OFFICIAL ORGAN OF Tllli AUDlHiON SOCIETIES 



Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN 

 Published by D. APPLETON & CO. 



Vol. XII Published October 1. 1910 No. 5 



SUBSCRIPTION RATES 



COPYRIGHTED. 1910, BY FKANK M. CHAPMAN 



Bird-Lore's Motto: 

 A Bird in the Busk is IVorth Two in the Hand 



The twenty-eighth Congress of "the 

 American Ornithologists' Union will be 

 held in Washington, D. C, November 15- 

 17, 1910. Application for Associate Mem- 

 bership in the Union should be made to 

 its treasurer, Dr. J. Dwight, Jr., at the 

 American INIuseum of Natural History, 

 New York City. Such applications are 

 acted on at the business meeting of the 

 Union held November 14, and all success- 

 ful candidates are entitled to take part in 

 the subsequent proceedings of the Union. 



The endorsement of the National Con- 

 servation Association, at its Congress held 

 in St. Paul, September 5-8, of the plan to 

 secure Federal law for migratory birds 

 gives fresh hope that eventually such a 

 measure may be passed by Congress. We 

 may even venture to look forward to the 

 day of international legislation when the 

 bird that nests in Canada, and passes 

 through the United States to its winter 

 home in Mexico, or beyond, may, at all 

 times, be the subject of laws based on a 

 thorough knowledge of its range, its peri- 

 ods of migration, and its nesting date. 



Bird -Lore's comments (May -June, 

 1910, pp. 120, 121) on 'The Condor's' appli- 

 cation of abbreviated spelling to the com- 

 mon names of birds are interpreted by the 

 Editor of that excellent magazine (July- 

 August, 1910, p. 134) as an accusation of 

 an attempt on his part to "originate" a 

 "new fad." and we are therefore declared 



to exhibit "astonishing ignorance" of a 

 " wide-spred," " progrcssiv " movement. 



As a matter of fact, we really had heard 

 of simplified spelling before it was adopted 

 by 'The Condor;' indeed, for some years 

 we have been the far from appreciative 

 recipients of the circulars of the Simplified 

 Spelling Board, and we even recall the 

 indignation aroused by a certain promi- 

 nent citizen who, ill-advised, or not ad- 

 vised at all, attempted to give Federal 

 sanction to this assault on the orthography 

 of the English language. While, therefore, 

 we must deny being so astonishingly igno- 

 rant as to have believed that 'The Condor' 

 was the originator of what Dr. Palmer has 

 called "bob-tailed" spelling, we believe 

 that we can accuse it of being the first 

 scientific journal to apply this spelling 

 to the names of animals. It is no concern 

 of ours if the Editor of 'The Condor' 

 wishes to mar his pages with such peculiar 

 verbal forms as "peekt," "bilt," "thoroly," 

 "gard," "thru," etc., but when, in his zeal 

 for spelling reform, he alters the names of 

 birds, for the spelling of which there is 

 higher authority than the Simplified Spell- 

 ing Board, and gives us, for example, 

 "OHve-backt Thrush," "Ruft Grouse," and 

 "Fesant," we feel as though he had taken 

 unwarranted liberty with the spelling of 

 the names of friends, and we protest 

 against these disguising changes, just as 

 the Editor of 'The Condor' would protest 

 if we spelled his name Josef Grinel. 



Bird-Lore's stand on the "Cat ques- 

 tion" is criticised by a number of its 

 readers, who maintain that "cat-lovers, as 

 well as bird-lovers, have rights." Of 

 course they have, and it is our earnest 

 hope that their rights may be so clearly 

 defined by proper laws that no court in 

 the land can refuse to grant them. The 

 dog, through its owner, has a legal status, 

 and we fail to see why the cat, through its 

 owner, should not be equally recognized 

 by our legislators. But ownerless dogs are 

 vagrants, and are so treated by societies 

 for the prevention of cruelty to animals; 

 and we ask only that ownerles cats also be 

 taken in charge by those having authority. 



