Editorials 



i6i 



A Bi-monthly Magazine 

 Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds 



OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE AI'DUBON SOCIETIES 



Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN 

 Published by THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 



Vol. II OCTOBER, 1900 



No. 5 



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COPYRIGHTED, 1900, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN. 



Bird-Lore's Motto: 

 A Bird in the Bush is Worth Two in the Hand. 



The A. O. U. and the Audubon Societies 



The proposal to hold a conference of 

 representatives of the Audubon societies 

 in Cambridge during the Seventeenth An- 

 nual Congress of the American Ornitholo- 

 gists' Union, which convenes in that city 

 on November 12, 1900, is admirable, not 

 alone through its promise of the accom- 

 plishment of practical and desirable re- 

 sults in matters concerning the work of 

 the Audubon societies, but also because it 

 will emphasize the close relation which 

 exists between the societies and the Union. 

 With the more isolated members of both 

 organizations it is evident that this affilia- 

 tion is not suspected ; indeed, the Audu- 

 bonist whose aims are limited to regulat- 

 ing the millinery of her neighbor finds, to 

 put it mildly, nothing to commend in the 

 most legitimate efforts of the ornithologist 

 who, with equally narrow vision, is ofttimes 

 led to make his critic stand as a type for 

 the societies she so misrepresents. 



An associate member of the Union, liv- 

 ing in California, voices this prejudice in a 

 recent number of 'The Condor,' wherein 



he " registers a kick against being placed 

 in the same class [of A. O. U. membership] 

 with Audubonists and fad protectionists." 

 His definition of the objectionable Audu- 

 bonist as a woman who "declines to wear 

 mangled bird-remains on her hat or as 

 trimming for her clothing," very clearly 

 exposes his ignorance of the scope of the 

 work of the Audubon societies, an ignor- 

 ance which we have found to prevail most 

 widely in regions where the Audubon 

 societies are least active. 



Doubtless there are " fad protectionists " 

 in the ranks of the Audubon societies, 

 just as there are fad collectors of birds' 

 skins and eggs among the members of the 

 Union; but fortunately both are of too little 

 importance to aftect the harmony born of 

 common interests which does exist between 

 the Audubon societies and the A. O. U. 



The original Audubon society was organ- 

 ized by the Union, and at the present time 

 the presidents of three of the leading 

 societies are prominent members of the 

 A. O. U., while but few of the larger 

 societies are without representatives of 

 the Union on their executive boards who, 

 be it added, are not mere figure-heads, but 

 active workers. As further evidence of 

 the community of interests of the two 

 organizations, it may be said that the 

 Union's Committee on the Protection of 

 North American Birds is, in effect, an 

 Audubon Society. 



It is not alone the necessity for bird-pro- 

 tection which prompts these members of 

 the A. O. U. to join forces with the Audu- 

 bon societies, but because they recognize 

 the enormous influence which these so- 

 cieties can and do exert on the advance of 

 ornithological interests in this country. 

 Indeed, we assert without hesitation that 

 the Audubon societies, with their 40,000 or 

 more members, popular lecture courses, 

 circulating libraries, school bird-charts, and 

 many educational schemes, are a more 

 potent force in shaping the future of 

 American ornithology than the American 

 Ornithologists' Union itself; and this not 

 because their members decline "to wear 

 mangled bird-remains," but because they 



