Editorial 



57 



25irb=1tore 



A Bl-Monthly Magazine 

 Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds 



OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE AUDUBON SOCIETIES 



Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



ContributingEditor.MABELOSGOOD WRIGHT 



Published by D. APPLETON & CO. 



Vol. XXI Published February 1, 1919 No. 1 



SUBSCRIPTION RATES 



Price in the United States, one dollar and fifty cents a year; 

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

 postage paid. 



COPYRIGHTED, 1919, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



Bird-Lore's Motto: 

 A Bird in the Busb Is Worth Two in the Hand 



The present winter doubtless finds an 

 unprecedented number of Bird-Lore's 

 friends among foreign surroundings, for- 

 eign peoples, and foreign birds. 



The first aspect of the situation which 

 we will mention is that as this January- 

 February number goes to press, material 

 for this page has not been received from 

 the Editor (last heard from in Peru) , doubt- 

 less because of the uncertainty of trans- 

 portation, and consequently of the mails. 

 Our most recent word from him is there- 

 fore the second of his South American 

 travel articles which came to Bird-Lore's 

 office only a short time ago. 



Of late our faces have been so much 

 turned toward France that the three 

 Christmas Census reports from members 

 of the American Expeditionary Forces 

 there, have an especial interest. Aside 

 from this especial interest, it will be worth 

 while for Bird-Lore's readers to compare 

 them with those from our side of the water; 

 in number of species observed they agree 

 with those of the latitude of New York 

 City. Like the American lists, they con- 

 tain a Kingfisher, one or two Raptores, 

 Woodpeckers, Crows, and Jays. The seed- 

 eating Finches are a large element. There 

 is the Wren (allied to our Winter Wren), 

 Creeper, Nuthatch, Kinglet, Blackbird, 

 to correspond to our Robin, and one or 

 two other Thrush-like birds. They men- 

 tion more species of Titmice than the 

 American reports; Wagtails, which are 

 absent here; Magpie and Dipper — forms 



which strangely enough range across Asia 

 and occur in census reports from the 

 western states, but are not found in the 

 east. On the whole these reports from 

 France are very comparable with those 

 from the United States, although the 

 species are different. 



If it is true, as we believe, that a thor- 

 ough knowledge of any phase of a subject 

 is the best preparation for grasping the 

 subject as a whole, and that no one phase 

 can be thoroughly mastered without some 

 knowledge of the others, we may proph- 

 esy that an interest in foreign bird-life will 

 be a valuable tendency for American bird- 

 students to follow. 



Bird-Lore is interested in birds rather 

 than in their names, but it will do no harm 

 to glance at certain problems in regard to 

 names recently discussed by our contem- 

 poraries, as these are bound to affect us 

 sooner or later. 



There are many geographic races of the 

 Horned Lark occurring in North America. 

 An interesting fact about the Horned Lark 

 is its differentiation into these races, but, 

 as many of the races cannot be identified 

 with certainty in life, it is essential that 

 we have an English and a technical name 

 for the species as a whole — ^'Horned Lark 

 (Otocoris alpestris).'' There are, however, 

 persons who would confine this name to 

 the race of the Horned Lark breeding in 

 the Arctic, which leaves the species name- 

 less. Again, allied birds occurring on more 

 or less adjacent territory are customarily 

 considered geographic races when inter- 

 mediates between them occur. Ordinarily, 

 intermediates occur only when the two 

 birds differ from each other in 'quantita- 

 tive' characters, one being larger than 

 the other, lighter or darker, redder or 

 grayer in plumage, etc. Where thoroughly 

 unUke birds have intermediates, as 

 they do in some cases, it is a question 

 whether calling both by the same species' 

 name facilitates the discussion of them, 

 or even expresses their true relationship 

 most satisfactorily; perhaps respectively 

 the two best reasons for naming them 

 at all. 



