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Bird - Lore 



i&trti'Eore 



A Bi-moiithly Magazine 

 Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds 



OFFICIAL OKI. AN OF 1 HK AlDlHiON SOCIF.TIES 



Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN 

 Published by THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 



Vol. XI 



Published June 1. 1909 



No. 3 



SUBSCRIPTION RATES 



Price in the United States, Canada and Mexico twenty cents 

 a number, one dollar a year, postage paid. 



COPYKIGHTED, igoq, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



Bird-Lore's Motto : 

 /J Bird in the Bush is IVorth Two in the Hand 



MiUR.\TiNG birds have doubtless been 

 sadly puzzled this spring by weather 

 phenomena which has evidently been the 

 cause of high mortality in their ranks. 

 After an e.xceptionally early season, which 

 brought many species to us before their 

 average due date, and, indeed, established 

 not a few 'earliest records,' the storm of 

 April 29, and the cold weather that fol- 

 lowed, placed a check on the northward 

 movement, deferring the arrival of those 

 species which usually reach us during the 

 first week in May. Then came the warm 

 weather of May 12-16, and with it a wave 

 of birds which fairly flooded the woods. 



CoMM.'\NDER Bennett's graphic ac- 

 count of the disaster which befell the birds 

 migrating over the western Florida Keys on 

 April 14, shows to what perils they are 

 exposed when crossing bodies of water. 



The first young birds seen on the wing 

 this year, near New York City, were Euro- 

 pean Starlings, which, on May 16, were 

 heard uttering their harsh churring food- 

 call and seen begging their parents for 

 food. This species appears to be increas- 

 ing in numbers even near New York City, 

 where it has been long established, and 

 is also rapidly extending its range. We 

 hope that those of our readers within 

 whose territory the Starling appears this 

 year will send us a note of its occurrence 

 in order that its rate of dispersal may 

 become a matter of record. 



' .'jThe Editor will also be glad to receive 

 information concerning the nesting of 

 the Marsh Hawk and American Bittern 

 within fifty miles of New York City. 



We, unfortunately, have no means of 

 communicating with future subscribers 

 to Bird-Lore, but we can, at least, warn 

 all present subscribers to beware of an 

 alleged subscription agent who signs 

 himself " Joseph Cooley." This individ- 

 ual has been operating extensively in New 

 England, where he has obtained numer- 

 ous subscriptions to Bird-Lore ; but, as 

 he uniformly fails to forward them to 

 our publication office, we do not hear of 

 the transaction until complaint is made by 

 the person imposed upon. To avoid the 

 possibility of being defrauded, we suggest 

 that renewals be made directly to the 

 Macmillan Company at New York or 

 Harrisburg, or through a reliable agency. 



The record of legislative activity, which 

 Mr. Dutcher presents in this issue of 

 Bird-Lore, reveals how wide a field the 

 Audubon Societies must cover merely in 

 preventing the passage of undesirable 

 legislative measures without making an 

 attempt to add to the ground already won. 

 The success of the millinery interests in 

 defeating the bills introduced at Albany, 

 by Mr. Francis, in behalf of the New 

 York State Audubon Society, was a 

 disappointing exhibition on the part 

 of the opposing legislators to comprehend 

 that, in the final analysis, their own inter- 

 ests are the same as those of their constitu- 

 ents. Just why representatives from 

 agricultural districts should side with 

 feather-dealers, with whom they appar- 

 ently can have little in sympathy, rather 

 than with the farmers who helped to 

 elect them, it is difficult to comprehend. 

 However, they doubtless will be given 

 another opportunity to place themselves 

 on record on this subject, and in the mean- 

 time it is obviously the duty of their con- 

 stituents to state with emphasis whether 

 they prefer birds as useless attachments to 

 bonnets or as the protectors of our 

 farms and orchards. 



