Editorials 



135 



ilirti 3lore 



A Bi-monthly Magazine 

 Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds 



OFFICIAL ORGAN UF THE AlDlBljN SOCIETIES 



Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN 

 Published by THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 



Vol. 1 



AUGUST, 1899 



No. 4 



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COPYRIGHTED. 1899, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN. 



Bird-Lore's Motto : 

 A Bird in the Busk is U'orlli Two in Ihr Hand. 



The advice of a prominent ornithologist 

 to beginners to collect all the birds of a 

 species they can get, has so long misrep- 

 resented the necessities of the case and, 

 at the same time, brought legitimate col- 

 lecting into disrepute, that every one having 

 the interests of the science of ornithology 

 at heart will read with great satisfaction 

 the circular entitled ' Hints to Young Bird 

 Students ' which we reprint on another 

 page. Signed by a majority of the pro- 

 fessional ornithologists of this country, 

 representing the institutions where orni- 

 thology is most actively studied, it may be 

 accepted beyond thought of dispute as 

 representing the true attitude of scientific 

 ornithologists toward the question of col- 

 lecting. And in place of the advice to 

 kill all the birds "you can get," what do 

 we find ? Virtually a plea to abstain from 

 all egg-collecting, to take birds only for 

 purposes of identification, and a state- 

 ment that the student " will learn more of 

 value by a study of the living bird than 

 by collecting skins." 



To our mind, the importance of this 



circular cannot be over-rated. It marks 

 an epoch in the history of North American 

 ornithology. The future ornithologist is 

 not to be a mere hoarder of birds' skins, 

 but a student of bird-life whose researches, 

 we predict, will prove an invaluable aid in 

 the solution of that most difficult and most 

 important of all biologic problems, the 

 relation of animals to their environment. 



The paper by Mrs. Olive Thorne Miller 

 on 'The Ethics of Caging Birds,' pub- 

 lished in the last number of Bird-Lore, 

 has been both commended and condemned. 

 Some correspondents have considered it a 

 most rational and unprejudiced treatment 

 of the subject, others have written that as 

 its general tenor might encourage the cag- 

 ing of birds, it was not to be endorsed. 

 Particularly do thev deplore what Mrs. 

 Miller feels to be " a work of charity," — 

 the rescuing of birds " from the discom- 

 forts of a bird-store " for, they say, that 

 the dealer replaces the sold bird with 

 another, and the final result is to encourage 

 the trade in birds. Of this there can be 

 no doubt, and the question, therefore, 

 becomes one for debate, as to whether the 

 pleasure to be derived from the companion- 

 ship of a caged bird, the humanizing in- 

 fluence which may be exerted by associa- 

 tion with a creature dependent on us, and 

 the knowledge we may acquire of its habits, 

 justify us in depriving it of its liberty 

 — assuming, of course, that it receives 

 proper care. We shall be glad to receive 

 the opinions of our readers on this subject. 



' The Century ' for July has an illus- 

 trated article on Bird Rock, in the Gulf 

 of St. Lawrence, by the Editor of this 

 journal, which, it should be said, would 

 have appeared in Bird-Lore had it not 

 been disposed of before this magazine 

 was established. This statement will also 

 apply to an article on Pelican Island, 

 Florida, which will appear in ' St. Nicho- 

 las ' for September. 



Dr. Coues having retired from the Edi- 

 torship of 'The Osprey,' Dr. Gill, who 

 had withdrawn his name from recent 

 numbers, assumes control. 



