Editorials 



275 



jlirtJ'Eore 



A Bi-tnonthly Magazine 

 Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds 



OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THK AUDUBON SOCIETIES 



Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN 

 Published by THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 



Vol. IX Published December 1, 1907 No. 6 



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Price in the United States, Canada and Mexico 

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

 age paid. 



COPYRIGHTED, I907, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



Bird-Lore's Motto : 

 A Bird in the Bush is JVorth Two in the Hand 



The twenty-fifth Annual Congress of 

 the American Ornithologists' Union will 

 be held at the Academy of Natural Sci- 

 ences in Philadelphia, on December 10-12. 

 Those of us who remember the first meet- 

 ings of the Union realize with difficulty 

 that its life extends over a quarter of the 

 century in which distinctively American 

 Ornithology may be said to have existed. 



In the Historical Preface to his ' Key 

 to North American Birds ' (1884), Coues 

 divided the portion of this century which 

 had then elapsed into Wilsonian, Audu- 

 bonian, and Bairdian epochs. Assuredly, 

 the succeeding epoch should be known as 

 the Epoch of the American Ornitholo- 

 gists' Union. 



The present widespread interest in the 

 study of birds in this country may be 

 largely attributed to the influence exerted 

 by the Union, and every bird student 

 should consider it a privilege to be con- 

 nected with an organization to which he is 

 so deeply indebted. Membership in the 

 associate class is open to every American 

 ornithologist, and applicants for admission 

 may learn all needful details from Dr. J. 

 Dwight, Jr., treasurer of the Union, 134 

 West Seventy-first Street, New York City. 



Dr. Field's article on the Heath Hen, 

 published in this number of Bird Lore, 

 emphasizes the largely haphazard manner 

 in which the habits of North American 

 birds have been studied. In spite of the 



fact that the Heath Hen is a species of 

 unusual interest and is on the verge of 

 extinction, no one appears to have at- 

 tempted to make a special study of its 

 life-history until Dr. Field visited it in its 

 home, which, by the way, is not a thou- 

 sand miles from one of the centers of 

 greatest ornithological activity in this 

 country. Dr. Field's description of the 

 notes of the strutting Heath Hen appar- 

 ently shows that this eastern bird differs 

 from the western Prairie Hen more in 

 voice than in plumage. In the western bird 

 the 'boom' is a strongly accentuated hoom- 

 ah-boom given with much apparent mus- 

 cular effort, the head being jerked violently 

 as the syllables are uttered. 



With this issue we publish the first of 

 a series of colored plates of North Ameri- 

 can Flycatchers. The series will doubt- 

 less be completed in the next volume of 

 Bird-Lore, and it is essential that we 

 decide at an early date on the next family 

 to be figured. A call for an expression of 

 opinion on this subject issued in the last 

 number of Bird-Lore leaves the matter 

 in doubt, and we shall be glad to receive 

 additional suggestions 



No ONE can glance through the annual 

 report of the National Association of 

 Audubon Societies and its allied Socie- 

 ties without being impressed by the scope 

 and importance of its work. In addition 

 to its legislative, protective and educa- 

 tional activities, the Association has 

 inaugurated investigations of purely orni- 

 uliological interest. We call attention, 

 for example, to the report . on the birds 

 of Bird Key in the Dry Tortugas by Dr. 

 Watson. The Association is to be con- 

 gratulated that, while acting as its warden. 

 Dr. Watson made the first adequate 

 study of the life of a bird community, 

 from the opening to the close of the nest- 

 ing season. For three months he lived 

 day and night with the subjects of his 

 researches, and we are assured that the 

 results of his labors, which will be pub- 

 lished by the Carnegie Institution, will 

 add much to our knowledge of bird-life. 



