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Bird -Lore 



ilirti'ilore 



A Bi-monthly Magazine 

 Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds 



OFFICIAL ORCAN <iF THF. ArDl'BoN SOCIETlliS 



Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN 

 Published by THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 



Vol. IV Published October 1. 1902 No. 5 



SUBSCRIPTION RATES 



Price ill the United States, Canada, and Mexico 

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

 age paid. 



Subscriptions may be sent to the Publishers, at 

 Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, or 66 Fifth avenue. New 

 Vork City. 



Price in all countries in the International Postal 

 Union, twenty-five cents a number, one dollar and 

 a quarter a year, postage paid. Foreign agents, 

 Macmillan and Company, Ltd., London. 



Copyrighted, 1902, by fjsank m. chapman 



Bird-Lore's Motto: 

 A Bird in the Bush is IVorth Tivo in the Hand 



A Question of Identity 



We are freqiieiul>' in receipt of reports of 

 the occurrence of rare birds or of birds far 

 beyond the boundaries of their normal 

 range, which, while sent in perfectly good 

 faith, are obviously based on faulty obser- 

 vation, though it is difficult, in fact some- 

 times impossible, to convince the observer 

 of his error in identification. When such 

 observations are not published no especial 

 harm results from them beyond increasing 

 the student's liability to err again, but 

 when they are recorded in print they be- 

 come part of the literature of ornithology 

 and cannot be ignored, even by those who 

 feel assured of their incorrectness. 



So the question arises, What constitutes 

 justifiable grounds for publicly recording 

 the occurrence of an exceedingly rare species 

 or of a species beyond the limits of its own 

 country? The professional ornithologist 

 replies, "the capture of a specimen;" but to 

 this violent method of identifying, the opera- 

 glass student objects, and, sentiment aside, 

 we think rightly. It is undeniably exciting 

 to secure a specimen of a rare species, or to 

 add a species to the known fauna of one's 

 state; but we believe that the science of 

 ornithology would have been more benefitted 



by the life of most of these "rare" birds 

 than in their death. What, for instance, 

 might now be the range of the Mocking- 

 bird if practically every bird and nest of 

 this species found by collectors north of its 

 usual range had not been taken ? Again, 

 how often the gun has robbed us of most 

 interesting and important facts in the life 

 history of that ornithological mystery, 

 Brewster's Warbler! 



But, in refusing to use the gun, must the 

 opera-glass student be denied the privilege 

 of having his observations accepted without 

 question? It depends upon many and varied 

 circumstances. In the first place, gun or 

 no gun, we must take into consideration the 

 mental attitude of the enthusiastic bird 

 student afield. It is in the highest degree 

 receptive ; he is on the lookout for rare 

 birds, and both eye and ear are ready and 

 willing to interpret favorably any sight or 

 sound not clearly seen or heard. We know 

 an experienced collector of birds who was 

 exceedingly desirous of securing a specimen 

 of a Nonpareil, a bird he had never seen in 

 nature. When, therefore, he first reached 

 the range of this beautiful and strikingly 

 colored bird he was constantly alert to de- 

 tect it ; and it was not long before he saw a 

 bright, fuU-plumaged male perched in plain 

 view on the topmost twig of a low bush. It 

 was in easy range; he fired, the bird fell, 

 he rushed in and picked up a — Vellow- 

 rumped Warbler! 



Another collector we know of identified 

 with certainty a Blue Grosbeak some two 

 or three hundred miles north of its usual 

 range, but the report of his gun, singularly 

 enough, transformed it into a male Cow- 

 bird! Still another excitedly chased a 

 Dickcissel from field to field, and when it 

 at length fell a victim to his aim he found 

 he had been pursuing a male English 

 Sparrow! 



So we might enumerate dozens of cases 

 illustrating our liability to err in making 

 field identifications, and the extreme care 

 needed to name accurately in nature 

 iiirds which we have never seen alive. 

 Consequently, we should number among 

 the requirements of field identification the 

 following: ( i ) Experience in naming 



