﻿Editorials 



33 



iStrti itore 



A Bi-monthly Magazine 

 Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds 



OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE AUDUBON SOCIETIES 



Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN 

 Published by THE MACM1LLAN COMPANY 



Vol. VIII Published February 1. 1906 No. 1 



SUBSCRIPTION RATES 



Price in the United States, Canada and Mexico 

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

 age paid. 



COPYRIGHTED, 1906, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



Bird-Lore's Motto: 

 .4 Bird in the Bush is Worth Two in the Hand 



The Christmas Bird Census 



The thousands of observations included 

 in Bird-Lore's six Christmas Bird Censuses 

 form a mass of information concerning the 

 distribution and numbers of our winter 

 birds, such as one will look for elsewhere in 

 vain. It would be interesting to compare 

 these data with the results of similar ob- 

 servations made at Christmas time, in 

 England; and we hope next year to present 

 returns from observers in England. 



Tabulation of these records will afford a 

 definite basis for comparing the bird-life of 

 different years, and enable us to determine 

 whether certain phenomena are merely local 

 or widespread. 



For instance, for the first time in years 

 there are no Chickadees in Central Park, 

 New York City, greatly to the regret of 

 resident bird-lovers. Is their absence 

 merely a coincidence, or does it possess a 

 broader significance? The census of 1905 

 contains reports of some sixty observers 

 north of Washington and east of the Alle- 

 ghanies, of whom 43 include the Chickadee, 

 the total number recorded being 598. But 

 in 1904, among the same number of census 

 takers, 53 enumerated the Chickadee, the 

 total number being 1,015. The absence of 

 the Chickadee from Central Park this winter 

 is, therefore, presumably connected with an 

 apparent decrease in the bird's numbers. 



In the case of some other species the agree- 

 ment in the returns of the last two years is 

 so marked as to increase our belief in the 

 scientific value of these statistics. Thus in 



1904, 32 out of 60 eastern observers list the 

 Song Sparrow, the total being 242, while 

 in 1905 it is entered in 31 out of 60 returns, 

 the total being 224. We have made no 

 attempt to extend the comparison, but, from 

 the illustrations given, it is clear we have 

 here data of no small value. 



Singularly enough, the only boreal bird 

 recorded by more than one or two observers 

 is the Northern Shrike, which is included 

 in eleven reports as compared with three in 

 ^04. If the presence of boreal birds is to 

 be attributed to the failure of the food sup- 

 ply in their more northern customary winter 

 homes, why should the Shrike, in winter 

 preeminently a bird-eater, desert what, in 

 the absence of boreal birds in more southern 

 latitudes, is doubtless a land of plenty? 



Popular Science in the Newspapers 



It is difficult to understand why the daily 

 press shouid have so little regard for the 

 truth — at least when nothing is to be made 

 by falsehood ! Just what is gained by 

 objectless, stupid inaccuracy it is hard to 

 say. An article on some scientific subject, 

 for example, has no news value, and we may 

 presume it is published for the edification 

 of the more intelligent reader. Often, how- 

 ever, such articles contain so many gross 

 misstatements that far from winning the 

 commendation due alleged newspaper 'enter- 

 prise, ' they arouse only contempt or ridicule. 

 Woe to the man whose misfortune it is to 

 be interviewed for an article of this nature, 

 unless he has the foresight to make only 

 written replies to the questions asked him. 



For example, in a recent issue of the 'New 

 York Herald,' to his no small surprise, 

 the editor of Bird-Lore finds himself 

 credited with the following remarkable 

 statements in regard to the colors of birds: 

 "The plumage of the domesticated fowls [in 

 .civilization] becomes more brilliantly marked 

 and their idiosyncrasies more accentuated; 

 as witness the Japanese long-tailed fowl 

 with tail feathers many feet long, as against 

 his brother, the common barnyard rooster. 

 Also the long-tailed, bright-marked peacock 

 of our country homes, who is doubtless a 

 development of the smaller and sadder-hued 

 Bird of Paradise " ! 



