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Bird - Lore 



A Bi-Monthly Magazine 

 Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds 



OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE AUDUBON SOCIETIES 



Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



ContributingEditor, MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT 



Published by D. APPLETON & CO. 



Vol. XVI Published April 1, 1914 



No, 2 



SUBSCRIPTION RATES 



Price in the United States, Canada and Mexico, twenty cent"; 

 a number, one dollar a year, postage paid. 



COPYRIGHTED, 1913, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



Bird-Lore's Motto: 

 A Bird in the Bush Is Worth Two in the Hand 



For the first time in its history of 

 thirty-one years, the American Ornitholo- 

 gists' Union will hold its annual congress 

 in the spring. Heretofore these always 

 memorable gatherings have usually 

 occurred in November, but the present 

 year it is proposed to convene on April 

 7-9, in Washington, D. C. This combina- 

 tion of date and place gives promise of an 

 exceptionally enjoyable meeting. The 

 beauties of 'spring at the Capital' have 

 long been sung, and visiting ornitholo- 

 gists may be assured an opportunity to 

 experience them under both sympathetic 

 and skilful guidance. 



The hotel headquarters of the Union 

 will be the Ebbitt House. The daily 

 public sessions for the presentation and 

 discussion of scientific papers will be held 

 in the National Museum. 



Anyone interested in the study of birds 

 is eligible for election to Associate Mem- 

 bership in the Union; and everyone who 

 realizes how much the causes of bird- 

 study and bird-protection owe to this 

 organization should welcome an oppor- 

 tunity to become afiiliated with it. The 

 annual dues of Associate Members are 

 $3, and all members receive 'The Auk,' 

 the 600-page journal of the Union, with- 

 out charge. Candidates for Associate 

 Membership should apply to Dr. J. 

 Dwight, Jr., Treas., 134 West 71st, 

 Street, New York City, or, from April 

 6 to 9, care of the National Museum, 

 Washington, D. C. 



The creation of reservations and 

 appointment of wardens may protect 

 birds from their human enemies, but even 

 government control and the services of 

 so faithful a guardian as Paul Kroegel 

 have been insufficient to protect the 

 Pelicans of Pelican Island from disaster 

 which befell their offspring during the 

 nesting-season just past. 



In the last issue of Bird-Lore, Warden 

 Kroegel wrote, under date of January i, 

 1914: "We have now as fine a batch of 

 young birds as I can remember for this 

 time of year;" but when, with Ernest 

 Seton, we visited the island on February 

 15, we beheld the most distressing scene 

 of which one could well conceive. The 

 ground was. as thickly strewn with the 

 bodies of dead young Pelicans as though 

 batteries of guns had been discharged at 

 close range into massed flocks of them. A 

 few dozen young were still alive, some of 

 which could fly, while others vainly tried 

 to do so. At the southwest and northern 

 ends of the island possibly a thousand 

 old birds were resting or bathing, and one 

 nest held three eggs, on which one of a 

 pair of adults sat while the other stood 

 nearby. This was the only occupied 

 nest on the island. 



We have visited Pelican Island on many 

 occasions, and have before seen the heavy 

 fatality which may follow unfavorable 

 weather conditions, but never before 

 have we found anything approaching the 

 catastrophe which has befallen the colony 

 this year. 



Its cause is by no means clear, but 

 there are certain facts which are beyond 

 dispute. Thus the cause of the young 

 birds' death seems beyond question to 

 have been starvation, but why they should 

 have starved is another question. Death 

 had occured since February i, just as 

 the birds were about to fly. Some birds 

 indeed, had escaped the fate of their less- 

 advanced or weaker comrades by acquir- 

 ing the power of flight, and with it ability 

 to feed themselves, and some of these 

 were seen about the island, as well as 

 some distance from it; but it was obvious, 

 even without an exact census, that the 



