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Bird - Lore 



A Hi-Mi)nllily Mauazine 

 Ucvotril to the Study and Protection of Birds 



OFl'lCIAI. ORGAN OF THE AIIDIIIION SOCl UTIICS 



Kdited by KRANK M. CMAFMAN 



Contributing: Editor, MABELOSGOOD\A/RIGHT 



Published by D. APPLETON & CO. 



Vol. XXH Published April 1, 1920 No. 1 



SUBSCRIPTION RATES 



Price ill the Uuiteil Stales, one dcillnr aiKl fifty cents a year; 

 outside the United States, one dollar and seventy-tWe cents, 

 postaije paid. 



COPVRIGHTRD, 1920, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



Bird-Lore's Motto: 

 A Bird in I be Busb Is WortL Txvo in tbc Hand 



Recent ('\]>t'iit'nces have imi)rt'ssi'(i 

 us anew widi (he vagueness with \vlii(li 

 most peoi)lL' st'c birds. This is due to luist y, 

 inadequate, and careless observation, lo 

 ignoranre of wliat nia\' l)e called the 

 topograpliy of a bird, Id a lack of training 

 in the art of seeing things accuratfi\ and 

 in detail, and to the diHicviUy with wliii h 

 most birds may l)e studied at short range. 



it is, of course, the last reason which 

 has pre\ented birds from becoming more 

 widely known, but it is the very elusive- 

 ufss of birds wliit h makes bird-study so 

 fascinating. 'J'hey ai)peal not only lo 

 our desire to know, but to our inherent 

 love of the chase. Surely no bird stuilent 

 who has experienced the thrill of follow- 

 ing strange calls and songs would ever 

 want to i)ursue his study in an a\iary! 



With some ('xcejitions, therefore, we 

 ma\' a(ce|)t the sliyness of birds as a 

 lasting t liarat leristic and we may attcpt 

 it also as a characteristic which demands 

 care and patience on the part of the held 

 student if he hopes for success, in tin's 

 fact, indeed, we have no small part of the 

 educational value of bird-study, even wlien 

 bird-study means merely naming birds 

 out of doors. 



This study should, when possible, i)e 

 preceded b_\ a siilli( icntly (h'lailed examina- 

 tion of the bird to enaf)le one to become 

 fa miliar willi the meaning of the terms 

 which are used in descriptive ornithology. 

 'Wing-bars,' 'luiinaries,' 'secondaries,' 

 'coverts,' 'back,' 'rump,' 'breast,' 'crown,' 



'flanks' shoulder,' 'bend of the wing,' etc., 

 should all become delinite terms convey- 

 ing an exact meaning. Failing access to 

 specimens, to Pigeons, or even Chickens 

 in tiie flesh, examine carefully the dia- 

 grams of birds which are given in most 

 bird books, (low tan oiu- hope to describe 

 a l)ird witii any degree of exactness if one 

 is neither fainiiiar with I lie proper descrip- 

 (i\i' lernis nor knows how to apply them? 

 Siiu|)l\ l)ecause we know that a bird has a 

 head, l)ody, wings, tail, and feet, it does 

 not follow that we are prepared to descrilie 

 accurately its color-pattern any more than 

 we could accurately describe an airplane 

 because we know that it has planes, an 

 engine and fusilage. 



Delinite kmiwiedgi' of the plan of a bird 

 is a great aid to correct observation in 

 nature. With sm h knowledge we shall be 

 far less likely to describe the male Red- 

 winged Blackbird as 'red-breasted,' to 

 say that a I'Micker has a white back, or a 

 Myrtle Warbler a yellow breast, while the 

 blue birds with red heads, green wings and 

 ])ink tails would become nearly, if not 

 (piite, extinct ! 



iJut beyond all this is needed that care 

 and patient f in looking at a bird which 

 permits one to write a fairly detaile<l 

 description of it, or, far better, draw and 

 color an outline of it. This, it is true, 

 cannot always be (K)ne, but, as we have 

 said, therein lies half the charm of the 

 slud_\- of birds in nature. Certainly no 

 one would tare to pbuk birds as he woidtl 

 blossoms ! 



.\fter the abovt- was wiillen it was dis- 

 covered that iJr. Allen, in the immediately 

 succeeding pages, had also taken for his 

 text the subject of accuracy of observation 

 in the study of birds. Pi'ompted by his 

 e\|)erience as a teacher, he dwells not only 

 on the imi)ortance of accurate observing 

 in naming birds in nal lire, bul also upon its 

 value in training one to see other things 

 as well as birds. "II is not sullicient," 

 he writes, "that the child's eyes be opened; 

 il is necessarv thai Ihev be trained to see," 

 and if, through an interest in birds, this 

 end can be achieved, then, indeed, is 

 the pupil (huililv ft)rtiinate. 



