6o Editorial 



THE WILSON BULLETIN 



A Q\ia.rterly NatfOLzlrvA Devoted to the Stvidy of Living Blr4s 

 OfflclBLl Organ of tK» Wilson OrnlthologicaLl Club 



Edited by LYNDS JONES 



PUBLISHED BI THE CLUB, AT OBERLIX, OHIO 



Price in the United States, Canada and Mexico, 50 cents a year, 15 cents a number, 

 postpaid. 



Price in all countries in the International Postal Union, 65 cents a year, 20 cents a 

 number. 



Subscriptions may be sent to I,ynds Jones, Oberlin, Ohio, or to Mr. Frank 1,. Burns, 

 Berwyn, Penn., or to Mr. John W. Daniel, jr., Washington, D, C. 



EDITORIAL. 



The editor will be at Woods Hole, Mass., after June 25, where let- 

 ters should be addressed, until September 1st After that date, and 

 until the September Bulletin is mailed, address Oberlin, Ohio. 



Bird-Lore has established the Christmas Census, we have estab- 

 lished the New Year Census and the May "All Day" record, and now 

 are ready to add another to this intensive field study of the birds. 

 Shall we not at least try to fittingly celebrate th« birth of our nation by 

 making a list of the birds to be found on that day? Would not such a 

 use of the day be more in accord with the real spirit of the anniversary 

 than the usual noisy and dangerous celebration? To those who record 

 75 or more species on July 4, 1904, the editor will present volumes 9 and 

 10 of the Wilson Bulletin, or a copy of Bulletin .31, "A xMonograph of 

 the Flicker." This summer study will include only the breeding birds 

 and will therefore be of value as showing what birds nest in your vicin- 

 ity. We trust that this beginning of the study of the breeding birds 

 will prove so interesting that careful studies may follow. It is only by 

 the careful study of the breeding birds of many localities that we shall 

 be able to know for certain the actual distribution of many of our birds. 

 Present day knowledge of summer distribution is largely general; we 

 should make it exact by thoroughly working our own localities. 



In asking for New Year records and May records, and now in ask- 

 ing for July 4th records, the editor has in mind a general campaign of 

 field study such as few have ever undertaken systematically. He hopes 

 to prove the intrinsic interest of this sort of work by inducing many to 

 undertake it in these small ways so that they will be glad to broaden 

 out to more and more studies, first looking toward monthly lists of the 

 birds of each locality represented by an observer, and finally making 

 these monthly records into strictly seasonal records for the purpose of 

 determining accurately the bird population during each season. We 



