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Bird - Lore 



2Mrfci=lLore 



A Bi-Monthly Magazine 

 Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds 



OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE AUDUBON SOCIETItS 



Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



Contributing Editor, MABELOSGOOD WRIGHT 



Published by D. APPLETON & CO. 



Vol. XXII Published December 1, 1920 No. 6 



SUBSCRIPTION RATES 

 l'rice in the United States, one dollar ami 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 the Bush Is Worth Two in the Hand 



As we close the twenty-second volume 

 of Bird-Lore and mentally review its 

 contents for the year, we realize our 

 indebtedness to those who have helped 

 to make the volume for 1920 measure up 

 to the standard of its predecessors. 



Especially are we grateful to the con- 

 tributors to ('The Season') and we are 

 confident that Bird-Lore's readers share 

 our gratitude. Our chain of 'Stations' 

 now reaches from the Atlantic to the 

 Pacific and the bi-monthly summary from 

 them of conditions in the bird world may 

 be read with profit not only by present- 

 day observers, but they constitute records 

 of real reference value for all time. 



While prepared more especially for the 

 use of teachers, Dr. Allen's editorials and 

 articles in the School Department have, 

 in our opinion, formed one of the most 

 important features of Bird-Lore dur- 

 ing the past year. Designed to present a 

 general resum6 of the subjects of which 

 they treat, they contain also much 

 original material and may, therefore, be 

 studied to advantage not only in the 

 classroom but by ornithologists who have 



long passed 1 he pupil stage. 



particularly to that portion of the report 

 which deals with the Association's work 

 in forming Junior Audubon Classes. 

 Therein we learn that over 280,000 

 children were enrolled in these classes 

 under the care of teachers who had 

 volunteered to lead them over the first 

 stages of the path toward a knowledge of 

 the beauty and value of bird-life. This does 

 not mean that this great army of boys and 

 girls will continue to pursue their quest 

 of bird-lore without further aid. Doubt- 

 less to the majority of them member- 

 ship in the Audubon Society will be only 

 a pleasant incident of the year, later to 

 become a memory of their childhood. 

 But to thousands this introduction to 

 their bird neighbors will be among the 

 most lasting and potent influences of 

 their school lives. Classmates will go 

 their way, grow and change, but these 

 new friends among the birds will remain 

 forever the same, and continued associa- 

 tion with them will become an ever- 

 increasing source of purest delight. 



When one pauses to consider the educa- 

 tional, recreational, and spiritual value of 

 this opportunity which, during the coming 

 years, the Audubon Society will offer to 

 millions of American children, one cannot 

 fail to be impressed by the magnitude and 

 importance of its achievements in this 

 one field alone. Every true bird-lover will 

 learn with regret that for lack of funds the 

 Association was obliged to close the door 

 in the faces of thousands of little seekers 

 of bird-lore. While the number of children 

 to be enrolled annually is doubtless 

 limited only by the financial resources of 

 the Association, we realize that it cannot 

 hope to cover the whole field in a single 

 year; but it does seem unfortunate that it 

 should not be in a position to aid t hose who 

 come to it for assistance. 



Tin; annual report of the National 

 Association of Audubon Societies, pub- 

 lished in this number of Bird-Lore, is a 

 most encouraging document. Every word 

 of it should be read by those who are 

 interested in the things for which this 



organization stands, but we call attention 



As we go to press, the thirty-eighth 

 stated meeting of the American Ornithol- 

 ogists' Union is in session with a large 

 attendance and an excellent program. In- 

 creased popular interest in the Union is 



indicated by the election of over 300 

 assoi 1a te members. 



