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Bird - Lore 



i&irti Eore 



A Bi-monthly Maeazine 

 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 PuDlishcd December 1. 1910 No. 6 



SUBSCRIPTION RATES 



Price in th- United States. Canada and Mexico twenty cents 

 : dullar a >ear, postage paid. 



COPYRIGHTED, 1910. BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



Bird-Lore's Motto: 

 A Bird in the Bush is IVorth Two in the Hand 



Every one familiar with Mrs. Alice 

 Hall Walter's success as a teacher of birds, 

 in Chicago, in Rhode Island, and while 

 in charge of the course in bird study at 

 the Cold Spring Biological Laboratory, 

 will feel that Bird-Lore is to be con- 

 gratulated on the addition of her name 

 to its Editorial Staff for 1911. Mrs.Walter 

 will aim to make Bird-Lore increasingly 

 valuable to teachers and their pupils by 

 giving practical suggestions for methods 

 and subjects of the study of our birds, 

 and by securing their active cooperation 

 in conducting her department. 



Mrs. Wright, although resigning charge 

 of the School Department, retains her 

 editorial connection with Bird— Lore, 

 and every one interested in birds and 

 gardens, as well as birds in gardens, will 

 learn, with pleasant anticipations, that 

 she will contribute to each number of 

 Bird-Lore for 1911 a paper on the birds 

 of her garden. That Mrs. Wright's garden 

 is a famous place for flowers has long 

 been known, but that it is equally favored 

 by birds, comparatively few are aware. 

 Over forty different species have been 

 found nesting there, and the editor can 

 aver from personal experience that it is 

 equally attractive to the transient visitant. 



We commend to our readers the annual 

 reports of the National .Association and 

 State Audubon Societies contained in 

 this issue of Bird-Lore, confident that no 

 one can read it attentively without being 



impressed by the character and importance 

 of the work which the champions of birds 

 throughout the country are doing. For- 

 tunately we are now reaching a stage in 

 the history of these Societies when, so to 

 speak, we can begin to live on our income. 

 While we may never hope wholly to 

 vanquish the enemies of birds, we at least 

 have them in check, and can now turn 

 our forces toward the educational side of 

 birds' relations to man, in order that he 

 may reap the benefit of the heritage which 

 has been saved for him. 



If one may judge from the increasing 

 frequency with which requests for infor- 

 mation concerning bird-houses, feeding 

 devices, and various other means of 

 attracting birds, are received, the Societies 

 have already aroused a wide-spread and 

 personal interest, from which one may 

 expect results of the highest value, not 

 alone to birds but to man as well. To 

 contribute to the funds of these Societies 

 is in truth but meeting them part way, 

 for such contributions are, or should 

 be considered as investments from which 

 one should expect fair return; and such 

 return the birds themselves will make if 

 we but give them half a chance. 



To feel that certain birds are your 

 tenants, that the presence of others is due 

 wholly to your bounty, is to establish 

 relations which forever after change 

 the species to the individual. One may 

 thus experience all the pleasures of 

 companionship which we gain from 

 association with captive birds, without 

 feeling that we are playing the jailer. 



A dogwood tree, red with berries, 

 beneath the editor's study window, which 

 had been missed by the Robins, was dis- 

 covered early in November by about 

 half a dozen Hermit Thrushes. For them 

 it contained more than a week's provisions; 

 but, unfortunately, before they had made 

 any visible decrease in the store, some 

 fifty dusky-coated Starlings appeared, and 

 within a day there were but few berries 

 left. Here was a concrete illustration of 

 competition over the food-supply the sig" 

 nificance of which was all too apparent. 



