44 



Bird - Lore 



&irt>'£ore 



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 MACMILLAN COMPANY 



Vol. X 



Published January 1. 1908 



No. 



SUBSCRIPTION RATES 



Price in the United States, Canada and Mexico 

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

 age paid. 



COPYRIGHTED, I90S, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



Bird-Lore's Motto : 



A Bird in the Bush is Worth Two in the Hand 



With this issue Bird-Lore reaches its 

 tenth birthday and the Editor knows of no 

 better way to celebrate the occasion than 

 to acknowledge his indebtedness to those 

 whose cooperation has made these ten 

 years what we believe to have been a period 

 of steady progress in the development of 

 the magazine and in the widening of its 

 sphere, of influence. 



Bird-Loee's defects are apparent 

 enough and no one regrets them more 

 strongly than its Editor who ever deplores 

 that many other demands on his time 

 prevent him from making the magazine 

 wholly worthy of the support it has re- 

 ceived; but let it be said to the credit of 

 humanity that among the thousands of 

 letters received from subscribers not one 

 but has had some word of praise unmarred 

 by the thorn of fault-finding. 



Surely this is a cause for thanksgiving, 

 if for no other than purely altruistic 

 reasons, and very heartily do we express 

 our gratitude to the correspondents, one 

 and all, who have so materially lightened 

 the editorial burden and brightened the 

 editorial way. 



In response to our request numerous 

 suggestions have been received in regard 

 to the family of birds which shall be figured 

 when the Flycatchers are completed. 

 Some correspondents ask for colored plates 

 of the Shore Birds some select the Vireos, 

 some the Wrens, while the greater num- 



ber have chosen the Sparrows. One 

 writer makes the excellent suggestion that 

 as much time would be required to com- 

 plete the series of Sparrow pictures it 

 might be advisable to figure the species of 

 a smaller family first and names the Wrens 

 as his preference if such a plan be adopted, 

 and we see no reason why it should not be. 

 In the meantime, the processes of repro- 

 duction in color are being improved, and 

 any delay should be accompanied by 

 better results. The Sparrows are a far more 

 difficult group to figure than the Warblers. 

 In the latter, large masses of simple colors 

 prevail. In the former, there is greater 

 variety both of color and of pattern which 

 only the best process can reproduce satis- 

 factorily. 



Is it due to the greatly increased in- 

 terest in birds that the Eagles on the new 

 ten- and twenty-dollar gold-pieces have 

 met with so much criticism ? Twenty years 

 ago, wc imagine, these coins might have 

 appeared without occasioning more com- 

 ment than has been aroused by other mint- 

 born birds, whereas now the correctness 

 or inaccuracy of the Eagles depicted upon 

 them is one of the questions of the day, 

 and the professional ornithologist is asked 

 to decide controversies in regard to this 

 point or that. 



From a purely ornithological point of 

 view both birds are incorrect in pose and 

 in numerous details of structure, but St. 

 Gaudens was not illustrating a text-book, 

 and although he permitted himself to 

 come nearer a real Eagle than, as far as 

 we are aware, any other designer of an 

 American coin, he took those liberties 

 which art warrants and the result should 

 no more be subjected to technical criti- 

 cism than should the so-called 'wing' of 

 an angel. It is a question of art, not of 

 ornithology. 



Mr. Henry Oldys, of the Bureau of Bio- 

 logical Survey, reports the capture at Man- 

 ahawkin Bay, New Jersey, of a Canvasback 

 Duck with a band on its leg marked "T. J. 

 O. D. 48." He would be glad to hear from 

 any one who knows of this bird's history. 



