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Bird - Lore 



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A Bi-Monthly Magazine 

 Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds 



OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE AUDUBON SOCIETIES 



Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



ContributingEditor, MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT 



Published by D. APPLETON & CO. 



Vol. XXI Published October 1, 1919 No. 5 



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 (be Bush Is Worth Two in the Hand 



It gives us much pleasure to announce 

 that Dr. Arthur A. Allen, professor of 

 Ornithology at Cornell University, has 

 joined Bird-Lore's staff, as editor of the 

 School Department, .in succession to Mrs. 

 Walter, whose retirement has been forced 

 by ill-health. Dr. Allen has developed a 

 definite program for the coming year, 

 which he will announce in the next issue of 

 Bird-Lore. 



The Annual Congress of the American 

 Ornithologists' Union will be held at the 

 American Museum of Natural History, 

 New York City, November ii to 13. 

 Everyone who has had the pleasure of 

 attending an A. O. U. meeting looks 

 forward with keen anticipation to being 

 present at the next one. There is the 

 certainty of an interesting program, of 

 hospitaUties from the local members, and of 

 many opportunities for social intercourse. 



Every bird-student knows that there is 

 an excitement connected with his pursuit 

 in the field which is attached to no other 

 natural history study. Allied to the 

 peculiar attractions of the chase is the 

 added enjoyment of trained appreciation, 

 which enables one to value his good fortune 

 at its real worth. 



'A privilege,' as Bulwer Lytton some- 

 what tritely remarked, 'is 'valuable' in 

 proportion to the exclusiveness of its pos- 

 session,' and what privilege can be more 

 exclusive than to be at the right spot and 

 the right time to meet the rare migrant or 



accidental visitant which no one may ever 

 have seen before in your neighborhood? 



These memorable experiences are re- 

 lived as we recount them to the attentive 

 and sympathetic ears of our fellow- 

 students. To paraphrase Thoreau, one 

 might say, 'Who are the excited? Two 

 birdmen talking!' 



Everyone has an opportunity to talk 

 at an A. O. U. meeting, if not during the 

 sessions, at least at the daily luncheons, at 

 the annual dinner, and at the informal 

 gathering which forms so pleasant a 

 feature of one of the evenings. It is true 

 that all these blessings are the privileges of 

 members of the Union, but it is also true 

 that it is the privilege of every bird-student 

 to become a candidate for membership in 

 the Union. A card addressed to Dr. T. S. 

 Palmer, secretary of the Union, at The 

 Biltmore, Washington, D. C, will bring 

 all needful information. 



There was at one time a project on 

 foot to establish a great national university 

 at the nation's capital, and some of the 

 buildings for it were actually completed. 

 But in Science for May 2, 1919, Mr. E. 

 W. Nelson shows that the various scien- 

 tific bureaus of the Government having 

 their headquarters at Washington form, 

 in fact, a great national university with 

 opportunities for study the value of which 

 is not realized by the general public or 

 even by that part of it which should be 

 interested in the opportunities which 

 Washington offers. We commend his 

 article to everyone considering a scientific 

 career. It contains many practical sugges- 

 tions 



All lovers of the Bobolink will regret 

 that its rice-destroying habits as a 

 Reedbird have induced the Biological 

 Survey to remove it from the list of 

 protected birds during its southward 

 migrations through the Gulf and Atlantic 

 states, from New Jersey southward. In 

 this connection we call attention to the 

 record of the occurrence of this species 

 in numbers in northwestern Argentina in 

 our review of El Hornero. 



