Editorial 



37 



A Bi-monthly Maeazine 

 Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds 



OFFICIAL OKGAN OF THR AUDUBON SOCIETIES 



Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN 

 Publiahod by THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 



Vol. XI Published February 1. 1909 No. 1 



SUBSCRIPTION RATES 



Price in the United States, Canada and Mexico 

 twenty cents a number, one dollar a year, post- 

 age paid. 



COPYRIGHTED, I9O9, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



Bird-Lore's Motto : 

 A Bird in the Bush is Worth Two in the Hand 



For the ornithologist the beginning of 

 the new year is in reality marked by the 

 arrival of the first bird from the South. 

 What an eloquent message of new life 

 it brings! Autumn passes imperceptibly 

 into winter; winter birds come before 

 autumn birds go, and the species of the 

 two seasons join and separate as gradu- 

 ally as do the seasons themselves. How 

 much less significance is attached to the 

 appearance of Junco or Creeper in Sep- 

 tember than to the arrival of the Robin 

 or Grackle in March! Yet the one as 

 surely indicates the death of the old year 

 as does the other the birth of the new. 



Envy as we may the dweller south of 

 temperate climes, where the rigors of 

 winter and the comparative scantiness 

 of its feathered kind are unknown, he 

 misses much who has not suffered the 

 famine of winter to prepare him for the 

 feast of spring. For him no Robin chants 

 its lay of hope and good cheer; no swelling 

 Blackbird chorus oozes from the earth, 

 like the very essence of perpetual youth. 



With the coming of the birds, the com- 

 plexities of the ever-present problem of 

 their identification with field- or opera- 

 glass increases; and it is presented to the 

 editor of the natural history magazine in 

 a far more complicated form than to the 

 student. Let us state the difficulties of 

 our position and seek the forbearance 

 of our contributors. The news of the 

 presence of a bird beyond the normal 

 limits of its range becomes, when pub- 

 lished, what is termed a 'record of occur- 



rence.' Such a record becomes a part of 

 the history of that species, always to be 

 included in its biography or in any com- 

 prehensive statement of its range. 



\ number of species owe their place in 

 our "Check-List' of North .\merican 

 birds on just such a record of occurrence; 

 while birds of the Pacific coast have 

 found a place in the list of east coast birds, 

 or vice versa, on a single record of this 

 kind. Such a record, then, becomes a 

 contribution, to our knowledge of the 

 distribution, even if exceptional, of that 

 species, in other words, a contribution to 

 the science of ornithology. Now as an 

 acceptable contribution to science it 

 must have a scientific foundation. There 

 must be no question as to the identity of 

 the bird in question; the evidence on 

 which the record is based must be of 

 such a nature that it can be submitted 

 to others when occasion requires. Such 

 occasion may arise during the lifetime of 

 the recorder, or not until after his death; 

 but it can be met satisfactorily only by 

 the production of the specimen on which 

 the record was based. 



The literature of ornithology is filled 

 with fruitless discussions of the local 

 status of some species whose presence 

 here or there has been recorded on 

 insufficient evidence. To our mind noth- 

 ing is to be gained by the publication of 

 records of this kind. As the circumstances 

 surrounding them become with time more 

 and more difficult to verify, so the records 

 themselves become increasingly open 

 to question. 



The field-glass student should not be 

 discouraged by this view of the case, but 

 should frankly accept the limitations of 

 his methods of study . There are two kinds 

 of ornithological research; one is based on 

 the study of specimens; the other on the 

 study of the living bird. The first requires 

 the use of the gun; the second, of the 

 glass; but in North .\merica, at least, 

 there is far more to be learned with the 

 latter than with the former. It is of much 

 greater importance to add a new fact to 

 the biography of a species than an acci- 

 dental record of occurrence to its range. 



