Editorial 



20I 



iStrti'itort 



A Bi-Monthly Magazine 

 Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds 



OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THl AUDUBON SOCIETIES 



Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



ContributingEditor.MABELOSGOOD WRIGHT 



Published by D. APPLETON & CO. 



Vol. XVI Published June 1, 1914 No. 3 



SUBSCRIPTION RATES 



Price in the United States, Canada and Mexico, twenty cents 

 a number, one dollar a year, postage paid. 



COPYRIGHTBD, 1914, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



Bird-Lore's Motto: 

 A Bird in the Bush Is Worth Two in the Hand 



Never before has the interest in birds 

 in this country been so widespread as it 

 is today. Laws, both Federal and State 

 are, as a whole, the best we have ever 

 had, and they are more effectively 

 enforced than at any previous time. 



The educational work of the National 

 Association of Audubon Societies, as its 

 report shows, has been so successful that 

 the Association has with difficulty met 

 the demands made upon it. 



Many plans are on foot for the estab- 

 lishment, in various parts of the country, 

 for bird-refuges or sanctuaries, and for 

 the systematic placing of nesting-houses 

 and feeding-stations in parks and ceme- 

 teries. Owners of country places, small 

 and large, are endeavoring in various 

 ways to attract birds about their homes. 



All that has been done in this direc- 

 tion we feel is only a beginning. We look 

 forward to the day when birds will be 

 considered as essential a part of country 

 life as flowers are now; when the com- 

 moner species, at any rate, will be as 

 generally known as are daisies and 

 dandelions. 



Then will man begin to realize on one 

 of Nature's endowments, of which until 

 recent years only the elect have availed 

 themselves. Then will the potential 

 value of birds to man become in greater 

 measure actual. 



That this day will come we have not 

 the slightest doubt. The change in our 

 attitude toward birds, and our gradual 



awakening to the beauties of bird-life 

 has been a perfectly normal response to a 

 variety of causes all of which can be 

 traced primarily to the influence of the 

 American Ornithologists' Union, and to 

 the Audubon movement which originated 

 in the Union. 



At present, in our opinion, the greatest 

 single factor hastening this ornithological 

 millenium is the formation of Junior 

 classes by the National Association. The 

 enrollment in a single season of nearly 

 100,000 children in definite courses of 

 bird-study, and supplying them with the 

 leaflets and colored plates of the Asso- 

 ciation is an accomplishment of untold 

 importance. Nor does this figure convey 

 a real idea of the far-reaching effects of 

 the Association's labors. Next year it 

 has been promised support to continue 

 to develop this most productive field. 

 At the present rate of increase, with 

 adequate means, not many years will pass 

 before one million children will have had 

 some instruction concerning our com- 

 mon birds, and will have learned where 

 they can get further information if they 

 want it. 



It is not to be expected that they all 

 will want it. We can make bird-lovers 

 far easier than we can make bird-students. 

 Nor should we expect everyone who shows 

 appreciation of the charm of the living 

 bird to become an ornithologist. We 

 have all heard of the person who hated 

 botany and loved flowers; but that 

 surely is no reason for discouraging a love 

 of flowers. 



So let us continue our work in making 

 bird-lovers, with a hope that now and 

 then we may rouse the latent spark 

 which fires the ambition of the true 

 ornithologist. 



It is greatly to be hoped that Con- 

 gress will make a large enough appro- 

 priation to insure the enforcement of the 

 law designed to protect migratory birds. 

 Although this law did not go into effect 

 until October, 1913, the results of the 

 protection it has afforded wild fowl 

 are apparent in many places. 



