56 



Bird - Lore 



2^irb=lLore 



A Bi-Monthly Magazine 

 Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds 



OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE AUDUBON SOCIETIES 



Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



Contributing Editor. MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT 



Published by D. APPLETON & CO. 



Vol. XX Published February 1,1918 No. 1 



SUBSCRIPTION RATES 



Price in the United States, one dollar aud tifty cents a year; 

 outside the United States, one dollar and seventy-five cents, 

 postage paid. 



COPYRIGHTED, 1918, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



Bird-Lore's Motto: 

 A Bird in the Busb Is Worth Two in the Hand 



With the appearance of this number, 

 Bird-Lore enters upon its twentieth 

 year. During the two decades of its 

 existence the organization for which it 

 stands has become a firmly established, 

 powerful influence in the conservation of 

 bird-life and in the dissemination of 

 knowledge concerning the value of these 

 winged protectors of our crops and "most 

 eloquent expression of Nature's beauty, 

 joy, and freedom." 



Adequate laws for the protection of 

 birds have been passed and their enforce- 

 ment assured. Scores of bird-refuges and 

 nesting-grounds have been guarded by 

 Audubon wardens and their once per- 

 secuted inhabitants, now certain of pro- 

 tection, are returning to their own, and 

 so increasing that those who come after 

 us may be promised those sights in the 

 bird world of which an earlier generation 

 has written. How this preservation of the 

 most attractive of Nature's forms would 

 have delighted the man for whom our 

 .Society is named and whose most recent 

 biography is reviewed in this number of 

 Bird-Lore ! 



But first among the notable achieve- 

 ments of the Audubon Association is its 

 work in the schools. During the last 

 three years alone over half a million 

 children have been enrolled in its Junior 

 Classes and have received systematic 

 instruction in the value and beauty of 

 birds. The limit to which this profoundly 

 important phase of the Association's work 



may be developed is set only by the 

 extent of the resources which may 

 be devoted to it. If the Association 

 had nothing else to its credit but this 

 awakening of the child's mind to the up- 

 lifting influences of an acquaintance with 

 birds, it would be eminently deserving 

 of the support which the public has so 

 generously accorded it. 



The clouds of war should not be per- 

 mitted to cast their shadow over this work. 

 However much we may be called upon 

 to give for the honor of our country and 

 the freedom of mankind, our children 

 should not be deprived of even a frac- 

 tional part of their heritage in nature. 



Six young men from the American 

 Museum's Department of Birds and 

 Mammals have answered their country's 

 Call to Colors. Anthony is a lieutenant 

 of artillery; Boyle has been in France for 

 months, the first of the group to reach 

 there; Chapin, Empey and Griscom are 

 lieutenants of infantry; and Leo Miller, 

 a lieutenant of aviation. 



It is an honor-roll of which the Museum 

 may well be proud. All but one of these 

 men have had more or less, several of them 

 exceptional, experience in zoological ex- 

 ploration, and we cannot but feel that the 

 spirit which led them cheerfully to accept 

 the hardships and dangers they have 

 encountered in the pursuit of their pro- 

 fession as naturalists has prompted them 

 eagerly to offer their services in this call 

 to a higher duty. We are sure that it 

 will enable them to meet the vital tests of 

 endurance and courage which await 

 them. 



This we do know, that their experience 

 in the field helped prepare them for their 

 entrance examinations as well as for the 

 subsequent courses of study and training 

 through which they received their com- 

 missions. 



We commend to Bird Clubs for discus- 

 sion the possible relation between the 

 unfavorable climatic conditions which 

 prevailed over so wide an area last 

 spring and the existing scarcity of winter 

 birds. 



