The Advisory Council 



ON a former occasion we have coininented on the happy results which 

 have followed Hiru-Lork's efforts to bring the isolated student in 

 touch with an authority on the bird -life of the rej^ion in which he 

 li\ed, throuj^h the formation of an Advisory Council composed of prominent 

 ornithologists representing the United States, Canada, Mexico and the 

 West Indies. The plan has worked admirably, and we are assured that the 

 many of our readers who have established pleasant relations with members 

 of the Council will be glad to know that, beginning with the present num- 

 ber, we propose to publish, in Bird- Lore, the portraits of the ornitholo- 

 gists composing the Council. The full list of Councilors will appear in the 

 next issue of Hi RD- Lore. 



Questions for Bird Students 



ONE of the most effective means of acquiring information is to have 

 one's interest in a subject aroused by a direct question concerning 

 it. The statement of a fact may make no impression on our 

 minds; whereas the same matter, presented interrogatively, will excite our 

 curiosity and so prepare the way for the answer that it is more readily 

 memorized. It is on this principle that Bird -Lore has been publishing, 

 during the past two years, pictures of birds without their names, and it is 

 on this principle that it plans to present, during the coming year, questions 

 relating to birds, bird men, and bird matters generally. One year from 

 this month, in our issue for December, 1903, we shall have a somewhat 

 surprising statement to make concerning these questions, and in our issue 

 for that date we will give a list of the names of all Bird -Lore readers 

 who send us correct answers to them. The first lot of questions is 

 appended. 



1. When was the American Ornithologists' Union founded, and who 

 was its first president ? 



2. How many tons of seeds has the Tree Sparrow been estimated to 

 destroy in a single state during the period of its presence ? 



3. What is the greatest number of species of birds observed at, or 

 near, one locality in North America during a single day ? 



4. What bird is known to nest in only three places in North America ? 



5. At what height above the earth does a recent observer state that 

 night-migrating birds fly? 



6. How long after hatching do Ruby-throated Hummingbirds leave 

 the nest ? 



( 192) 



