Editorial 



55 



25trti=1Lore 



A Bi-Monthly Magazine 



Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds 



OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE ADDDBON SOCIETIES 



Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



ContributingEditonMABELOSGOOD WRIGHT 



Published by D. APPLETON & CO. 



Vol. XXII Published February 1, 1920 No. 1 



SUBSCRIPTION RATES 



Price in the United States, one dollar and fiftv cents a year; 

 outside the United States, one dollar and seventy-five cents, 

 postage paid. 



COPYRIGHTED, 1920, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



Bird-Lore's Motto: 

 A Bird in I be Busb Is Worth Two in the Hand 



The Annual Congress of the American 

 Ornithologists' Union, held at the Ameri- 

 can Museum of Natural History, Novem- 

 ber 11-14 last, was marked not only by a 

 large attendance and the election of some 

 250 Associate Members, but also by the 

 excellence of its scientific program. 



It seems clear that if the Union is to 

 give due consideration to the communica- 

 tions which are presented at its annual 

 meetings, it must either prolong its ses- 

 sions or hold sectional meetings. The latter 

 seems to us to be the more desirable plan. 

 The more popular papers might be pre- 

 sented before, let us say, a Biographic 

 Section, systematic papers before a Tax- 

 onomic Section, and papers of general in- 

 terest before a joint session. If one will 

 visit the laboratories of the bird depart- 

 ment in the Museum, where the meetings 

 are being held, he will probably discover 

 there those members of the Union who are 

 especially interested in systematic ornithol- 

 ogy, who have, in effect, already formed 

 a Taxonomic Section where they may 

 examine specimens and discuss, informally, 

 technical questions in which the general 

 public has little or no interest. For this 

 reason, as well as for lack of time, such 

 discussion has been largely barred at 

 A.O.U. meetings, and the more technical 

 phases of ornithology have consequently 

 not received the attention due them at 

 these annual gatherings of representative 

 ornithologists. For example, Dr. Witmer 

 Stone's paper, at the recent Congress, on 



'The Use and Abuse of the Genus' merited 

 far more consideration than of necessity 

 could be given it, and the worth of a 

 paper of this character can be determined 

 far better by debate than by publication 

 alone. We hope therefore that this ques- 

 tion of sectional meetings will receive due 

 consideration before the Washington 

 Congress of 1920 convenes. 



'Country Life' for December gives the 

 place of honor to an admirable article on 

 'Christmas Birds' by the Editor of Bird- 

 Lore's School Department. We wish that 

 we could commend the illustrations as 

 highly as we can the text, but, in truth, we 

 do not recall any bird illustrations in a 

 reputable publication which contain so 

 many and such inexcusable inaccuracies. 



The layman will hunt in vain for an 

 artist's name, but to the initiated these 

 seven full-page plates are evidently cut- 

 out photographs of mounted birds which 

 have been grouped in what are believed 

 to be natural associations, colored by hand, 

 and about, below, before, and behind 

 them are painted such perches, surround- 

 ings, and landscapes as seemed appro- 

 priate. The work has been skilfully done, 

 with results which are, in some instances, 

 as superficially pleasing as they are funda- 

 mentally erroneous, and hence are as per- 

 nicious as the clever type of natural history 

 faking which Mr. Roosevelt so vigorously 

 condemned. 



For example, the two Nuthatches are 

 grouped as 'Field Birds,' a Short-eared 

 Owl has sought the seclusion of a pine tree 

 with a Screech Owl and Great Horned Owl 

 for companions, and a Horned Lark per- 

 ches on the limb of an oak, grasping its 

 perch in a way no bird of its kind ever did 

 or could. The retouching of the photo- 

 graphs has produced numerous errors in 

 form and color — -the Flicker, for example, 

 has no trace of yellow in its quills, the 

 Meadowlark has a yellow-striped head, 

 and the Red Crossbill is about the color 

 of a Hermit Thrush; while, without going 

 into further detail, nearly every bird in 

 the series is a libel on the appearance of 

 the species in life. 



