Editorials 



127 



iltrti'ilore 



A Bi-monthly Magazine 

 Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds 



OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE Al'DUBON SOCIETIES 



Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN 

 Published by THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 



Vol. II 



AUGUST, 1900 



No. 4 



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Subscriptions may be sent to the Publishers, at 

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COPYRIGHTED, 1900, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN. 



Bird-Lore's Motto : 

 A Bird in the Bush is IVorlh Two in the Hand. 



Bird-Lore is printed at Harrisburg, Pa. 

 and in the future it will be mailed from 

 that city. All communications, therefore, 

 in relation to the publication of this 

 magazine, notices of change of address^ 

 etc. should be addressed to The Macmillan 

 Co., Crescent and Mulberr}' streets, Harris" 

 burg, Pa. 



An accumulation of notes from the field 

 and publications for review has compelled 

 us to omit from this issue the Depart- 

 ment for 'Teachers and Students.' 



The position taken by the Audubon 

 Societies, thus far heard from, in regard 

 to the proposed agreement with the Milli- 

 nery Merchants' Protective Association, to 

 the effect that to sanction, even passively, 

 the killing of birds anywhere would violate 

 the cardinal principles of the Societies, is 

 unanswerable, and renders impossible 

 further negotiation with the milliners, 

 which we are assured would have resulted 

 in securing for our birds such protection 

 as we cannot now e.xpect to give them for 

 many years. Thus, for example, when 

 discussing with the representatives of the 



milliners the proposed agreement, the 

 editor of this magazine demanded that 

 the term ' North American bird ' must be 

 interpreted to mean any species of North 

 American bird without regard to the 

 country in which it was found, and that 

 birds whose feathers could not be distin- 

 guished from those of North American 

 birds be included, the demand was agreed 

 to ; and when it was explained that such 

 agreement meant the complete abandon- 

 ment of aigrettes and the practical dis- 

 continuance of the use of the feathers of 

 Grebes, Gulh, and Terns, they still 

 accepted this interpretation of the agree- 

 ment. 



Now, in our opinion, when houses 

 representing 90 per cent of the millinery 

 trade in this country propose not to deal 

 in the feathers of the very birds which we 

 are at present using our best efforts to 

 protect, the proposition is at least worth 

 considering. We do not, however, intend 

 to discuss the matter further, for, as we 

 have said, the reply made by the Audubon 

 Societies thus far heard from is unanswer- 

 able, and as these Societies represent a 

 majority of the more active Societies, we 

 sincerely hope that their verdict will be 

 accepted by those which have not as yet 

 acted on the matter. 



In commenting on the milliners' pro- 

 posed agreement in 'The Auk,' the official 

 organ of the American Ornithologists' 

 Union, Dr. J. A Allen writes, "This appeal 

 is certainly entitled to respectful consid- 

 eration, since, on the one hand, it guaran- 

 tees on the part of a powerful association 

 of dealers, that the killing of North 

 American birds shall at once cease, and 

 that all traffic in them for such use shall 

 also cease after a certain date." 



We earnestly hope, however, that fhe 

 American Ornithologists' Union will sup- 

 port the Andubon Societies in the stand 

 they have taken, for nothing could be 

 more disastrous to the cause of bird 

 protection than lack of harmony among 

 its advocates. 



