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Bird - Lore 



25irb=llore 



A Bi-Monthly Magazine 

 Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds 



OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE AUDUBON SOCIETIES 



Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



ContributingEditor.MABELOSGOOD WRIGHT 



Published by D. APPLETON & CO. 



Vol. XXIII Published August 1. 1921 No. 4 



SUBSCRIPTION RATES 



Price in the United States, one dollar and fifty cents a year; 

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

 postage paid. 



COPYRIGHTED, 1921, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



Bird-Lore's Motto: 

 A Bird in the Bush Is Worth Two in the Hand 



The John Burroughs Memorial Associa- 

 tion has issued an appeal for contributions 

 toward a fund of $40,000 with which to ac- 

 quire possession of Riverby, Slabsides, and 

 Woodchuck Lodge. The fee for active mem- 

 bership in this Association is $5. Surely no 

 friend of John Burroughs should have to be 

 asked twice for this amount. It may be sent 

 to the Association, care of the American 

 Academy of Arts and Letters, 15 West 8ist 

 Street, New York City. 



It is said that one of the worst enemies of 

 the rarer breeding British birds is the egg- 

 collector who, in the name of 'Science,' spares 

 no effort to add to his cabinet British-laid 

 eggs of birds which may be on the verge of 

 extinction in Great Britain though common 

 enough elsewhere. The last report of the 

 Royal Society for the Protection of Birds 

 records the difficulty paid 'watchers,' or, as 

 we call them, wardens, have in guarding nests 

 of the less common birds and of collectors' 

 attempts to bribe these watchers, and the 

 Secretary of the Society writes asking us how 

 we combat this evil in America. We answer 

 that it does not exist. It is true that we still 

 have some collectors of eggs, but the day 

 when bird-nesting was a characteristic phase 

 of ornithology in this country has long since 

 passed. Speaking from memory we cannot 

 recall, since the time of Bendire, the presenta- 

 tion of a purely oological paper or exhibition of 

 eggs before theannualcongress of the American 

 Ornithologists' Union, nor, to be more local, 



do we believe there is a single egg-collector 

 among the representative group of young bird 

 students who compose the active membership 

 of the Linnsean Society of New York. 



Doubtless stringent laws prohibiting egg- 

 collecting, except under the terms of a permit 

 issued only to qualified persons of eighteen 

 years or more, has had much to do with the 

 suppression of bird-nesting, but we believe 

 that the campaign of education conducted by 

 the Audubon, and other Societies, nature 

 study in the schools, and the use of the 

 camera in recording nesting habits has 

 aroused so great an interest in the living bird, 

 and particularly in the life of the nest, that 

 the mere gathering of empty eggshells seems a 

 very trivial thing to the modem bird student. 



Bird-Lore is often honored by requests 

 for permission to republish articles and illus- 

 trations, particularly the latter, which have 

 appeared in its pages. So far as this maga- 

 zine is concerned, such permission is invari- 

 ably granted, for the chief object of our 

 existence is the dissemination of information 

 concerning birds, and we have an abiding 

 belief that this end can be served, and well 

 served, by increasing the number of our 

 readers. Bird-Lore, however, is not the 

 only party to be considered in this connec- 

 tion. It is, indeed, the least important mem- 

 ber of the group composed of author, photog- 

 rapher, and publisher. The first-named 

 gives, the second sells us the right to publish 

 certain articles or photographs, and after 

 such publication all further rights in these 

 articles or photographs revert to the person 

 or persons from whom we obtained them. In 

 almost every instance these persons, no 

 doubt, would be willing to extend to other 

 magazines the same privileges they have 

 granted Bird-Lore, but it is obvious that 

 this right must be obtained from them and 

 that we are no more authorized to give it 

 after than before publication in our pages. 



May we therefore suggest that hereafter 

 those who desire to use Bird-Lore material 

 write direct to the author rather than to us. 

 If the author's address is not given, com- 

 munications may be addressed to him in our 

 care at the Harrisburg office. 



