A BI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE 



DEVOTED TO THE STUDY AND PROTECTION OF BIRDS 



Official Organ of The Audubon Societies 



Vol. XVII September— October, 1915 No. 5 



'Bird Clubs in America' 



By FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



At intervals during the past fourteen years, Bird-Lore has pub- 

 /-% Hshed contributions to a series of articles under the general heading, 

 'Bird Clubs in America.' It now appears that this title was not only 

 literally incorrect but actually misleading. As a matter of fact, the organiza- 

 tions of which these articles treated were not Bird Clubs, but Ornithological 

 Clubs; for example, the Nuttall Ornithological Club and the Delaware Valley 

 Ornithological Club, and more recent developments, show that there is as much 

 difference between an ornithological club and a bird club as there is between 

 original scientific research and the popular presentation of its results. 



Ornithological Clubs (or Societies) are composed chiefly of bird-students; 

 bird clubs, chiefly of bird-lovers. It does not follow that the bird-student may 

 not be a bird-lover, but it does follow that the bird-lover may not be a bird- 

 student. Of him it may be said that, like the person who "loved flowers and 

 hated botany," he loves birds and hates ornithology. 



As I understand it, therefore, a bird club composed mainly of bird-lovers 

 rather than of bird-students has for its initial object not the study of bird-life, 

 that may follow, but the development of methods which will tend to increase 

 our intimacy with birds. 



It is not immediately concerned with nomenclature, classification and 

 avian psychology, but it has an active interest in nesting-boxes, bird-baths 

 and feeding-stands. It cares nothing for the 'law of priority,' but sees to it 

 that the bird-law is enforced. 



The comparison of the bird-lover and flower-lover on the one hand, with 

 the ornithologist and the botanist on the other, gives us, I believe, a clue to 

 the human factors underlying the surprisingly widespread interest in birds 

 which the formation of bird clubs throughout the country has revealed. The 

 flower-garden is such a universal adjunct of a country home that its absence, 

 in the face of opportunity would be so unusual as to occasion comment. 

 Wholly aside from botanical or horticultural reasons, the beauty and fragrance 



