178 



Bird - Lore 



ilirb'Eore 



A Bi-monthly Magazine 

 Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds 



OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THB AUDUBON SOCIETIES 



Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN 

 Published by THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 



Vol. X 



Published August 1. 1908 No. 4 



SUBSCRIPTION RATES 



Price in the United States, Canada and Mexico 

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

 age paid. 



COPYRIGHTED, IO,o8, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



Bird-Lore's Motto : 



A Bird in the Bush is Worth Two in the Hand 



What an overwhelming catastrophe 

 was the introduction into America of the 

 House Sparrow ! Its harsh, insistent, 

 incessant chirp is now the dominant bird 

 voice about our homes, where we may 

 never again hope to hear a chorus of 

 native bird music unmarred by the dis- 

 cordant chatter of this pest. It is as though 

 some foul odor had forever defiled the 

 fragrance of our fields and woods. 



The contents of the June issue of the 

 National Geographic Magazine demon- 

 strates convincingly the value of the cam- 

 era to the sportsman as a substitute for 

 the rifle, and its importance to the natural- 

 ist as an aid in recording observations 

 in tangible form. 



Virtually the entire number is given 

 to an article by the Hon. George Shiras, 

 3d, entitled 'One Season's Game-Bag with 

 the Camera.' To be exact, for "Season's" 

 we should substitute Year's, since the 

 work of several seasons is here included; 

 but, even with this amendment, the con- 

 tents of the game bag is sufficiently re- 

 markable, especially when we learn that 

 it represents only the best specimens of 

 the hunter's skill. Here are photographs 

 of the Booby, Man-o'-War Bird, Sap- 

 sucker, Florida Screech Owl, Canada Jay, 

 Brown Pelican, Florida Bob-white, Cat- 

 bird, and Thrasher, the moose, caribou, 

 Virginia deer, timber wolf, weasel, mink, 

 and gray squirrel, — all of which show the 

 animal in its haunts and tell more or less 



of its habits, while the accompanying text, 

 which is far more interesting as a narra- 

 tive than the simpler story of the man 

 with the gun, contains also much valuable 

 biographical matter. 



In New Brunswick Mr. Shiras employed 

 a famous guide, who for over forty years 

 had hunted with the rifle; but, after his 

 experience as an assistant in camera 

 hunting, he said: "In my varied experience 

 and with many scenes before me, I can 

 only say in all sincerity that the hunt of 

 the past week has proved more interesting, 

 more exciting, and of more real value in 

 the study of animal life than all that has 

 gone before." Such a tribute from a 

 naturalist would not be surprising, but that 

 a professional hunter should so quickly 

 yield to the fascination of camera hunting 

 is eloquent evidence of the camera's inher- 

 ent superiority over the gun for the sports- 

 man as well as the scientist. 



Mr. ' Shiras's story is illustrated by 

 seventy photographs, selected from 250 

 taken between April 9, 1907, and April 1, 

 1908. It is perhaps needless to add that 

 among them one looks in vain for a pic- 

 ture of the author standing proudly 

 behind a string of dead birds, or beside a 

 hung deer carcass. 



A work now appearing in England 

 comes nearer to the ideal presentation of 

 a bird's biography than any with which 

 we are familiar. It is entitled 'The 

 British Warblers,' and is by H. Eliot 

 Howard (R. H. Porter, publisher, 7 

 Princes street, Cavendish Square, Lon- 

 don). The author has devoted years to 

 the study in life of the subjects of his 

 monograph and the results show what 

 may be accomplished by specialization 

 and continuous, definitely directed ob- 

 servation. 



When this number of Bird-Lore 

 reaches its readers, the southward migra- 

 tion of birds will already be under way; 

 but how many of us will know anything 

 about it? Show us a bird student with 

 a journal well filled with August notes, 

 and we will show you an ornithologist 

 who was born, not made. 



