^2 



Bird-Lore 



ilirt) Eore 



A Bi-monthly Magazine 

 Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds 



OFFICIAL ORGAN UF THE ATDIBON SOCIETIES 



Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN 

 Published by THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 



Vol. VI Published February 1, 1904 No.,1 



SUBSCRIPTION RATES 



Price ill tlie United States, Caiuidaaiid Mexico 

 twenty cents a number, one dollar a year, post- 

 age paid. 



Subscriptions may be sent to the Publishers, at 

 Harrisburg. Pennsylvania, or 66 Fifth avenue. New 

 York City. 



Price in all countries in the International Postal 

 Union, twenty-five cents a number, one dollar and 

 a quarter a year, postage paid. 



COPYRIGHTED. 1904, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



Bird-Lore's Motto: 

 A Bird in the Bush is IVorih Tivo in the Hand 



A Question of the Day 



Interest in animals is now popularlv 

 aroused by emphasizing our kinship with 

 the lower forms of life, and the man- 

 ifestations of animal instinct and of 

 human intelligence often so cftsely resemble 

 one another that it requires an effort on 

 the part of the sympathetic but conscientious 

 student to avoid using his own mind as a 

 standard when attempting to interpret the 

 meaning of an animal's actions. 



In an increasing number of magazine ar- 

 ticles and so-called ' nature ' books, the 

 effort to resist the temptation to write of 

 animals as though they were endowed with 

 the mind of man entire has clearly not been 

 made, and the result is a rapidiv growing 

 mass of natural-history fiction presented in 

 the guise of fact. 



While the writers of this class no doubt 

 awaken much interest in animal life, it is 

 not a healthy interest. It is based on false 

 premises and unwarranted assumptions. 

 Lacking the special training without which 

 even the best observers are not justified in 

 drawing conclusions, these writers enter the 

 difficult field of comparative psychology and 

 in almost every paragraph confidently 

 put forward, as uncontrovertible facts, state- 

 ments about the habits of animals for 



which there is absolutely no psychological 

 foundation. 



Throughout the world of science today, ■ 

 trained minds are patiently and skilfully I 

 studying the animal mind. Thousands of 

 minute exhaustive experiments are being 

 made. Conclusions are drawn with the 

 utmost caution and are presented to the 

 world tentatively for criticism and as repre- 

 senting only a stage in our investigations of _ 

 the development of mind in animals. ■ 



Compare the careful studies and con- 

 servative statements of those fully equipped 

 investigators with the crude observations, 

 vague memories and unsubstantiated anec- 

 dotes of the various campers, hermits, pad- 

 dlers et al who are now posing as author- 

 ities on the habits of our birds and animals 

 and the nature of their mental attributes. 

 As a matter of fact, these pseudo-scientists 

 are about as well prepared to discuss the 

 problems of comparative psychology as the 

 average kodaker is to explain the chemistry 

 and optics of photography. 



From the scientist's point of view, the 

 greatest harm wrought by this unnatural 

 history is not only the wholly wrong im- 

 pression it conveys of our exact knowledge 

 of the animal mind, but the consequently 

 misguided efforts of students who have op- 

 portunity to make observations which might 

 be of great value. Accepting as true the 

 humanization of the animal, they study its 

 actions as thev would those of a fellow-man, 

 and unconsciously attribute to them a 

 significance they are not kno^in to possess. 



The science of comparative psychology is 

 as yet in its infancy. It has need of the 

 services of every competent observer. Par- 

 ticularly in our study of the life-histories of 

 birds do we need an immense amount of 

 data before we niay hope to penetrate the 

 workings of the bird-mind, and say with 

 some approach of confidence, "This is in- 

 stinct," or "This is intelligence." Do not, 

 therefore, let us rush ahead, led astray by 

 imaginative even if honest writers, but let 

 us be sure of one foothold before we make 

 the next step. 



The true story of the activities of the 

 animal mind will be found to be marvel- 

 lous enough when once we know it. 



