300 



Bird - Lore 



2^irb=llore 



A Bi-Monthly Magazine 

 Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds 



OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE AUDUBON SOCIETIES 



Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



Contributing Editor, MABELOSGOOD WRIGHT 



Published by D. APPLETON & CO. 



Vol. XXII Published October 1, 1920 No. 5 



SUBSCRIPTION RATES 



Price in the United States, one dollar and fiftvcentsa year; 

 outside the United States, one dollar and seventy-five cent", 

 postage paid. 



COPYRIGHTED, I920, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



Bird-Lore's Motto: 

 A Bird in the Busb Js Worth Two in the Hand 



The Annual Congress of the American 

 Ornithologists' Union will be held this 

 year in Washington, November 8 to ii. 

 If one cannot attend these important and 

 stimulating meetings of bird-students 

 regularly, he cannot do better than to 

 select the one which is held in Washington. 

 Aside from the attractions which the 

 Nation's Capital possesses and the seasonal 

 advantages it offers over more northern 

 cities in November, there are traditions 

 which hang about the 'Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution,' under whatever name it may 

 function, with which none of the other 

 meeting-places of the Union can compete. 



In addition to the usual three-day ses- 

 sion for the presentation and discussion 

 of papers on birds, many of which will be 

 illustrated by specimens, lantern slides or 

 motion pictures, the local committee of 

 arrangements for the present Congress is 

 arranging a special exhibit of ornithological 

 art, notice of which appears on page 282. 



Membership in the A. O. U. is a 

 privilege which no bird-lover should deny 

 himself. If he is unable to attend these 

 annual reunions, he will at least receive, in 

 return for his yearly membership fee of 

 three dollars, a copy of the Union's official 

 organ. The Auk, a magazine which easily 

 takes first place among the ornithological 

 serials of the world. All details in regard 

 to membership in the A. O. U. may be ob- 

 tained from its Secretary, Dr. T. S. Palmer, 

 IQ39 Biltmore Street, Washington, D. C. 



The League of Wild-Life Photog- 

 raphers which was formed earlier in the 

 year, largely with the purpose of exposing 

 the makers of fraudulent 'nature' photo- 

 graphs, offers its services to the editors of 

 magazines who, lacking experience in the 

 field of nature photography, are often 

 unable to detect faked from genuine wild- 

 life photographs. 



Recent glaring ornithological errors 

 in certain magazines suggest the desira- 

 bility of an A. O. U. Committee on popular 

 ornithology which would also offer its 

 services to the editors who wished to 

 avoid at least unpardonable bhmders of 

 identification. We have recently seen, for 

 example, an excellent photograph of an 

 adult Sparrow Hawk published above the 

 caption, 'Chicken-Hawk,' while a row of 

 fledgelings of this species were called 

 'Young Screech Owls' which, it was 

 explained, had been blown from their 

 nest by a storm! 



An author, who writes on 'How to 

 Know Birds,' illustrates his article with a 

 Young Red-headed Woodpecker which he 

 labels 'A Young Flicker', a proceeding 

 which suggests that the method he recom- 

 mends is not infallible. 



How technical editing may prevent a 

 magazine from committing humiliating 

 errors of this kind was well illustrated by 

 an incident which occurred within the 

 week. An editor of a standard sportsman's 

 journal received from one of his corre- 

 spondents a detailed account of the breed- 

 ing of the 'Wild Pigeon,' accompanied 

 by photographs of Pigeons which had been 

 taken from the nest and reared in captivity. 

 The photograph was an excellent one and 

 showed beyond question that the birds 

 were White-crowned Pigeons, a common 

 West Indian species which reaches the 

 Florida Keys and, in this instance, had 

 been found nesting on Bemini Island in 

 the western Bahamas. Here the editor, 

 more cautious than many of his colleagues, 

 saved himself the necessity of an apology 

 to his readers by the exercise of a bit of 

 good judgment and the expenditure of a 

 two cent stamp. 



