Editorials 



215 



A Bi-monthly Magazine 

 Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds 



OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THF. AIDUBON SOCIETIES 



Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN 

 Published by THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 



Vol. Ill Published December 1. 1901 No. 6 



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Subscriptions may be sent to the Publishers, at 

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COPYRIGHTED, 19OI, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN. 



Bird-Lore's Motto: 

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



No small part of the pleasure found in 

 the management of Bird-Lore comes 

 through the large number of letters received 

 from the magazine's readers. Many of 

 the letters are written solely to express 

 their writers' approval of Bird-Lore, and 

 they are very welcome. Others contain 

 requests for information or advice, and, 

 indicating an active interest in bird study, 

 are equally welcome. It is always a priv- 

 ilege to render assistance where it is de- 

 sired. Greatly to our regret, however, the 

 margin of time left from days fully occupied 

 with professional duties is far too small to 

 enable us to answer promptly and ade- 

 quately the communications of our corre- 

 spondents, and we, therefore, beg their kind 

 indulgence when our replies to their queries 

 seem unexcusably brief. We sincerely wish 

 it were possible to give each letter the 

 attention it deserves. 



1901 



The past year has witnessed a continuance 

 of the steadily increasing interest in the 

 study of birds and, as heretofore, we may 

 mention briefly the more important publisiied 

 results of the year's work relating to .Aineri- 

 <an birds. 



.Among scieiuifi<- and technical publica- 



tions of first importance is the first of the 

 eight volumes of Mr. Ridgway's great work 

 on the birds of North America north of the 

 Isthmus of Panama. This volume treats of 

 the Finches and will be reviewed in a sub- 

 sequent issue of Bird-Lore. The third 

 volume of Bowlder Sharpe's ' Hand List of 

 the Birds of the World' will be of service 

 to working ornithologists of all countries; 

 and of especial interest to American students 

 is the Tenth Supplement of the A. O. U. 

 Check List, with its welcome antidote for 

 the disease of feather splitting, from which 

 American ornithology has suffered of late. 

 Dr. R. M. Strong's 'Quantitative Study of 

 Variation ' might also be administered in 

 large doses with the hope that due consider- 

 ation of his careful discriminative methods 

 would save the pages of our scientific publi- 

 cations from much undigested material. 



In the line of original investigation 

 Hubert Lyman Clark's Studies in Pterylo- 

 graphy and Dr. J. Dwight's continued work 

 on the molt of birds should be noticed, and 

 although of a very different nature. Profes- 

 sor Herrick's ' Home Life of Birds ' with its 

 close observations of the life of the nest, 

 should be here included. 



A feature of the year's publications is the 

 number and excellence of local bird lists 

 which has appeared, not based on a few 

 months' observation, but adequately repre- 

 senting the character of the bird-life of the 

 region of which they treat. Among them 

 we may note Babson's ' Birds of Princeton,' 

 Eaton's ' Birds of Western New York,' Em- 

 body's 'Birds of Madison County, N. V.,' 

 Morris' ' Birds of Springfield, Mass.," Howe 

 and Allen's 'Birds of Massachusetts,' Mc- 

 Gregor's ' Birds of Santa Cruz County, 

 Calif.,' and Grinnell's ' Birds of the Kotze- 

 bue Sound Region,' the latter containing 

 much new information. 



Economic ornithology is represented by 

 Judd's 'Sparrows in Relation to Agricul- 

 ture ' and for tiie teacher and general reader 

 there are Mrs. Eckstorm's 'The Bird Book ' 

 and 'The Woodpeckers,' Mrs. Miller's 



Second Book of Birds," Babcock's Bird- 

 Day and How to Prepare for It,' lorrey's 

 • Everyday Birds," lii.tfinann's ' Bird Por- 



