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Bird - Lore 



A Bi-monthly Magazine 

 Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds 



OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE AUDUBON SOCIETIES 



Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



Contributing Editor, MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT 



Published by D. APPLETQN & CO. 



Vol. XIII Published August 1. 1911 No. 4 



SUBSCRIPTION RATES 



Price in th: United States, Canada and Mexico, twenty cents 

 a number, one dullar a year, postage paid. 



COPVRIGHIED, 1911, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



Bird-Lore's Motto : 

 A Bird in the Bush Is fVorth Two in the Hand 



With an income which permits it to 

 accomplish only a small portion of 

 the work in view, the National Association 

 of Audubon Societies was sorely tempted 

 by the offer of $25,000 a year for five 

 years, lately made to it by the manu- 

 facturers of arms and ammunition. There 

 is no reason to doubt that the offer was 

 made in good faith, and, bej^ond the 

 fact that it was to be applied solely to the 

 protection or increase of game birds, it 

 was made without restriction. Neverthe- 

 less, there can be no doubt that the Asso- 

 ciation acted wisely in refusing it. It has 

 been said that in this refusal the Asso- 

 ciation has put itself on record as opposed 

 to game protection, but there is no ground 

 whatever for this belief. On the contrary 

 sportsmen's clubs may be assured, the 

 continued and earnest support and co- 

 operation of the Association in their ef- 

 forts to protect the game animals. This, 

 however, is a very different matter from 

 devoting at least one-half of its energies to 

 this end. Clubs for the protection of the 

 birds ranked as game abound, but the 

 Audubon Society is practically the only 

 organization effectively engaged in the 

 protection of non-game birds. 



The protection of bird-life, however, 

 is only a preliminary if necessary step in 

 the Audubon Society's activities. It pro- 

 tects birds not only because of their econ- 

 omic value but also because of their esthetic 

 importance. 



It believes that the bird is not only one 

 of the most valiant allies of the farmer 

 but one of the most potent bonds between 

 man and nature. It, therefore, would be 

 improper, if not impossible, for an organ- 

 ization of this nature to give a large share 

 of its efforts to increasing the number of 

 certain kinds of birds for a certain number 

 of months each year in order that there 

 would be just that many more to kill 

 during the remaining months of the year. 



In our opinion it would be just as logical 

 for the Audubon Societies to accept a sum 

 of money from the milliners to protect 

 Egrets ten months each year with the 

 understanding that at the end of this 

 time there should be an open season of 

 two months, as to become the paid agents 

 of interests whose ultimate object is not 

 bird-protection but bird-destruction. 



The Editor apologizes to many corres- 

 pondents whose communications have 

 thus far only been accorded mere formal 

 acknowledgment of receipt. The expedi- 

 tion to Columbia, in the interests of the 

 American Museum of Natural History, 

 announced in an earlier number of Bird- 

 LoRK, occasioned an absence of slightly 

 over three months. And a report on 

 manuscripts, with which we have been 

 favored during this time, has of necessity 

 been delaj'ed. 



Incidentally, it may be add id. that the 

 journey in question was made without 

 undue difficult}', and proved to be su- 

 premely interesting. Colombia was en- 

 tered at Buenaventura, on the west coast, 

 two days' sail, south of Panama. Studies 

 were then made on the summit of the 

 Coast Range, at an elevation of from 

 6,000 to 8,000 feet in the Central Andes, 

 and in the Cauca Valley lying between 

 these two chains of mountains. 



The return trip was made down the 

 Cauca river to Cartago, thence over the 

 Central Andes to Giradot, on the Magda- 

 lena river, which was descended to Barran- 

 quilla, near its mouth. In all, about 1.500 

 miles were covered in Colombia alone; a 

 reconnaissance which will enable the mu- 

 seum to direct its explorations ettecli\ely. 



