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Bird -Lore 



iltrD Eore 



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. XIV Published February 1. 1912 No. 1 



SUBSCRIPTION RATES 



Price in the Unileti States. Canada and Mexico, twenty cents 

 a number, one dollar a year, postage paid. 



COPYRIGHTED, 1912, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



Bird-Lore's Motto: 

 A Bird in the Bush Is IVorth Two in the Hand 



The "Universal Feather Co.," of Phil- 

 adelphia, openly, one might indeed say 

 brazenly, invites the public at large to 

 join it in breaking the spirit, if not the 

 letter of the law, which prohibits the sale 

 of aigrettes in New York State. This 

 concern, we understand, is composed of 

 New York feather dealers whose business, 

 having become illegal in New York State, 

 has been transferred to Pennsylvania. 



With an obvious, and possibly to be 

 expected, failure to realize the real ques- 

 tion at issue, the Universal Feather Co. 

 assures prospective patrons that "We 

 take all the responsibility, you take none," 

 and we wonder whether the purchasers of 

 its wares are as blind to the absurdity 

 of this statement as its makers seem to be. 



Advocates of commercial forestry 

 methods in our National Parks should 

 remember that these areas have been set 

 aside by the Government, not as invest- 

 ments in timber, but as investments 

 in nature. The bird-lover, as well as the 

 tree-lover, has rights in these Parks, which 

 should not be violated by a too rigid 

 application of purely economic principles. 

 We want forests, not groves. 



In view of the fact that the National 

 Association of Audubon Societies, as we 

 think, very properly refused to administer 

 the sum of $25,000 annually for the 

 seasonal protection of game birds on 



behalf of the arms and ammunition com- 

 panies of this country, it is a satisfaction 

 to know that, through the formation of 

 the American Game Protective and Propa- 

 gation Association, this large amount of 

 money is not to be lost to the cause of 

 bird protection. This organization is 

 composed mainly of sportsmen, and its 

 object is primarily not only to prevent 

 the decrease but to promote the increase 

 of game birds, to the end that their 

 shooting may not tend to diminish the 

 supply. 



It is needless to say that many mem- 

 bers of the Audubon Societies do not 

 approve of the killing of game birds under 

 any conditions; and for this reason, if 

 for no others, it was not possible for the 

 National Association to become the 

 agents of the donors of the fund in ques- 

 tion. But we must deal with man in the 

 light of his inheritance, and not expect 

 the rank and file to measure up to the 

 highest standard thus far attained. If 

 the past, through the present, throws any 

 light toward the future, beyond question 

 the most humane-minded have reason to 

 be encouraged. In the meantime, recog- 

 nizing the imperfections of human nature, 

 let the most tender-hearted sentimentalist 

 join hands with the less sympathetic but 

 possibly more practical sportsman in 

 every honest effort to preserve wild life! 



No one can read a summary of the 

 work performed by the Biological Survey 

 during 191 1 without being impressed by 

 the value to the country of this branch of 

 the Federal service. As an increasing pop- 

 ulation removes us farther and farther 

 from natural conditions, so does the pen- 

 alty exacted by nature for the violation 

 of laws become greater and increasingly 

 difficult to avoid. 



Mr. Henshaw, Chief of the Survey, 

 comments particularly on the importance 

 of increasing our insectivorous birds, and 

 as steps toward this end, recommends that 

 artificial nesting-sites be provided; that 

 thickets of berry-bearing shrubs and trees 

 should be planted along the roadside, or 

 in waste places on the farm. 



