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Bird: Lore 
A Bi-monthly Magazine 
Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds 
OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE AUDUBON SOCIETIES 
Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN 
Published by D. APPLETON & CO. 
Vol. XII 
———— 
Published August 1, 1910 No. 4 
SUBSCRIPTION RATES 
Price in the United States, Canada and Mexico twenty cents 
a number, one dollar a year, postage paid. 
COPYRIGHTED, 1910, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN 
Bird-Lore’s Motto: 
A Bird in the Bush ts Worth Two in the Hand 
Tue ‘Supplements’ to the A. O. U. 
“Check-List’? of North American birds 
were published with the admirable pur- 
pose of keeping the List up to date, but 
they have resulted in largely destroying 
its value as a work of reference. While 
those actively engaged in ornithological 
research posted the various changes and 
additions announced in the fifteen Supple- 
ments which have been issued since the 
publication of the second edition in 1895, 
into their Check-Lists, this was not to 
be expected of the public at large, which, 
consequently, for many years has had 
no one book containing an authoritative 
Check-List of the scientific and popular 
names of North American birds. 
It is to be hoped therefore, that the 
A. O. U. will permit the third edition of 
its Check-List, which has just been issued, 
to remain a standard, usable, dictionary, 
so to speak, of the names and ranges of 
North American birds, until circumstances 
warrant the publication of a fourth edi- 
tion, or at least of a revised and complete 
list of names. 
THE resignation of Dr. C. Hart Mer- 
riam as Chief of the Biological Survey of 
the United States Department of Agri- 
culture, in order that, free from executive 
cares he may deyote his entire attention to 
scientific work under a fund established by 
Mrs. E. H. Harriman, closes a chapter in the 
history of one of the most important epochs 
in the study of our birds and mammals. 
Bird - Lore 
Dr. Merriam not only formed the Bureau 
of Biological Survey (in 1885, as the Divi- 
sion of Ornithology and Mammalogy) and 
originated field and laboratory methods 
which have made it the most efficient in- 
vestigating force of its kind in the world, 
but he unconsciously formed, at the same 
time, a school in which many of the lead- 
ing naturalists of the day have received 
an invaluable training. 
The appointment of Dr. Merriam’s 
former Chief Assistant, Mr. Henry W. 
Henshaw as his successor, is an assurance 
that the Survey will continue to render an 
increasingly effective service to the pub- 
lic, and without reservation, therefore, we 
may congratulate ourselves that Dr. 
Merriam is now in a position to give to the 
the world the fruits of his prolonged 
studies of the American fauna. 
As the lines of bird protection are 
drawn closer, the ‘Cat Question’ becomes 
correspondingly acute. We commend, 
therefore, both to the friends and enemies 
of Tabby, Dr. Hunt’s article on the sub- 
ject in this issue of Brrp-Lorr. The 
methods of relief she suggests have been 
proposed before, but she puts the case 
very clearly and in a way which should 
appeal to the good judgment of those on 
both sides of it. 
Aside from Dr. Hunt’s and other articles 
on the destructiveness of cats, this issue of 
Brrp-LoreE contains several brief but sug- 
gestive papers on ways and means of in- 
creasing our bird population. 
Mr. Schreiman’s report on the results 
following a distribution of the National 
Association’s leaflet onthe Purple Martin 
shows what can be done by a little well-di- 
rected work of this kind; Professor Bene- 
dict’s description of the Mary M. Emery 
Bird Reserve and of the plans for its devel- 
opment, suggests untold possibilities in this 
direction, and in Mr. McAtee’s pamphlet 
on plants which will attract birds, which is 
briefly reviewed on a preceding page, there 
is much practical information for those 
who would increase the numbers of 
birds either in reserves or about their 
own homes. : 
