Editorials 



87 



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 April 1. 1908 



No. 2 



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 



April i is the New Year of the Middle 

 States bird students' calendar. March, 

 it is true, has brought evidences of return- 

 ing life, but it is not until the end of that 

 month that we are thrilled by the spirit 

 of spring. Where, before, we would hasten 

 the wheels of time, now we would check 

 them ; stretching the succeeding two 

 months into four. 



With the year we renew our youth, 

 living over again this exciting period of 

 anticipation and realization. Greeting 

 the far-travelled migrants with the joy of 

 a first meeting or with the deeper pleas- 

 ures of association. Surely, in all nature 

 there is nothing to compare with this 

 return of the birds! 



To the field-glass student the question 

 of identification is now a living one in every 

 sense of the world. But he may be as- 

 sured that the best substitute for the bird 

 is a detailed description of it, written while 

 it is in sight. Put down everything you 

 can see, and, if you cannot identify the 

 stranger yourself, send the description 

 to some number of Bird-Lore's Advisory 

 Council. If the bird is very rare or acci- 

 dental, write a detailed description whether 

 you recognize it or not. The description 

 will be far more convincing than your 

 bare statement that you saw this rare bird 

 or that. 



Even better than a description, but 

 usually impossible to get, is an identi- 



fiable photograph of the bird. Few observ- 

 ers are as fortunate in this respect as our 

 correspondent Mr. Brown, who reported 

 the presence of a Rose-breasted Gros- 

 beak in northern New Jersey in Janu- 

 ary and February. No bird of this species 

 should have been in the United States 

 at this season, and our request for a photo- 

 graph on which to base the record was 

 replied to, as will be seen, in the most 

 satisfactory manner. 



Ax Index is not generally considered 

 interesting reading, nor is it customary 

 to buy an Index without the matter to 

 which it refers, but the Index to the 

 eight volumes of the 'Bulletin of the Xut- 

 tall Ornithological Club' and seventeen 

 volumes of 'The Auk' is an exception to 

 the first rule, and warrants a violation 

 of the second. It is virtually a summary 

 of what has been done in ornithology 

 during the most important twenty-five 

 years in the history of that science, the 

 150,000 entries being arranged by authors, 

 subjects, common and scientific bird's 

 names and localities. 



The Index might be supposed to relate 

 only to the papers contained in the publi- 

 cations mentioned, but as a matter of fact 

 it has a much wider scope. Under the 

 editorship of Dr. J. A. Allen, the 'Bulletin' 

 and 'Auk' have acquired the well-deserved 

 reputation of publishing the most ex- 

 tended, satisfactory and authoritative 

 reviews of ornithological literature which 

 appear in any journal. These reviews 

 being as carefully treated as the original 

 contributions to the 'Bulletin' and 'The 

 Auk,' their subject matter also becomes a 

 part of the Index, adding greatly to its 

 value. 



The Index was prepared under the 

 editorship of Dr. Jonathan Dwight, Jr.. 

 who is to be unreservedly congratulated 

 on the completion of his labors and on the 

 admirable manner in which they have 

 been performed. 



During March and April the Editor 

 who will be in the field, asks the indul- 

 gence of correspondents. 



