Editorials 



63 



A Bi-monthly Magazine 

 Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds 



OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE AfDUBoN SOCIETIES 



Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN 

 Published by THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 



Vol. 1 APRIL, 1899 No. 2 



SUBSCRIPTION RATES. 



Price in thel'iiiu-d Slates, Canada, and Mexico, 

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

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Subscriptions may be sent to the Publishers, at 

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 at En^lewood, New Jersey. 



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MACMII.I.AN AND CoMI'ANV, LTD., Loildoil. 



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CCJPYRIGHTED, 1890, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN. 



The establishment of Bird -Lore has 

 brought its editor in touch with many pre- 

 viously unknown friends, who, with the 

 utmost kindness, have expressed their 

 approval of the new publication and pre- 

 dicted for it a successful career. To 

 thank all our correspondents individually 

 has been out of the question, and we take 

 this means, therefore, to assure them of 

 our appreciation of their good wishes. 



Doubtless they will be interested to 

 know- that within two weeks after the pub- 

 lication of Bird-Lore, the publishers had 

 disposed of more copies than it was sup- 

 posed they would sell in two months, 

 while the demand for specimen copies was 

 so large, that at the end of the same period 

 our edition of 6,000 was nearly exhausted 

 and we were obliged to issue a notice to 

 the effect that the remaining copies would 

 be delivered only to subscribers. 



The Lacey-Hoar Bird Bill has met with 

 a greatly to be regretted fate. With 

 earnest advocates of bird protection in 

 both the House and Senate, and with suffi- 

 cient support to ensure the passage of any 

 desirable measure, the prospects of secur- 



ing needed legislation seemed to be ex- 

 cellent. Doubtless both Congressman 

 Lacey's and Senator Hoar's bills would 

 have passed if they had been presented 

 separately, but making the latter an 

 amendment to the former, created a series 

 of contradictions that apparently could 

 not be adjusted in conference, and, as a 

 result, measures the intent of which the 

 majority of both houses evidently favored, 

 failed to become laws. 



However, the terms of neither Mr. Hoar 

 nor Mr. Lacey have expired, and it is to 

 be hoped that before the next Congress 

 convenes they will have prepared a bill in 

 which their interests in birds will be har- 

 moniously presented. 



One of the most dangerous enemies 

 threatening our birds to-day is the man 

 who, under the mask of ' science, ' col- 

 lects birds and their eggs in wholly un- 

 warranted numbers. He is dangerous 

 not alone because of the actual destruction 

 of life he causes, but because his excesses 

 have brought into disrepute the work of 

 the collector who, animated by the spirit 

 of true science, and appreciating the 

 value of life, takes only those specimens 

 which he needs to assist him in his studies. 



For this reason we feel it to be our duty 

 to publicly protest against such wholly 

 inexcusable nest-robbing as Mr. L. W. 

 Brownell, of Nyack, N. Y., confesses 

 himself to be guilty of in the January 

 issue of ' The Osprey. ' In describing a 

 visit to Pelican Island, Florida, he states 

 that in "about an hour he had col- 

 lected all the eggs he could conveniently 

 handle, about 125 sets." 



This is an outrageous piece of bird- 

 slaughter. It is especially to be deplored 

 because Brown Pelican quills and back 

 feathers are fast becoming fashionable, 

 and, unless the species is protected, P'lorida 

 will speedily lose one of its most charac- 

 teristic and interesting birds. But how- 

 can we expect women, unfamiliar with the 

 bird in nature, to aid in its protection, 

 when people who have seen it in its haunts, 

 and know- how much it adds to Florida's 

 coast scenery, ruthlessly destroy it. 



