Part 15

Until recently this theory has lacked confirmation, but I now learn from Dr. William R. Brooks, Director of Smith Observatory, at Geneva, N. Y., that during the evening of May 23, 1899, while observing the moon through his 10-1/8-inch refracting telescope, using a power of 100 diameters, he saw some forty birds cross the field of vision. Dr. Brooks states that from the distinctness of the image and the fact that from three to five seconds were required by each bird to cross the segment of the moon in the field of the telescope, he estimates the birds to have been distant about seven and a half miles, and further calculation, based on this estimate, places them about two miles above the earth.--Frank M. Chapman.

The Cardinal in Maine

This incident is vouched for by Mrs. L. M. N. Stevens, National President of the W. C. T. U.

Several years ago, after the first snowfall at Stroudwater, Maine, Mr. Stevens hurried into the house one morning to ask his wife to come and see a handsome, but cold and hungry-looking, red bird, in a shrub near the door. Mrs. Stevens saw that it was a Cardinal Grosbeak, and, placing some food in a large cage, she set it near the bush. The Cardinal soon hopped inside, and was safely convoyed indoors under cover of a blanket. A happy season began. He was given the freedom of the room, and became very tame and companionable.

In the spring, as soon as the red bird grew restless and the weather mild, he was let loose, and flew away.

In the fall, with the first cold snap, came the Cardinal, to spend his second winter in the old home.

Again in the spring, when the restlessness re-appeared, Mrs. Stevens wanted to let the bird fly, but yielded to the judgment of her husband, who advised delay, lest cold and hunger overtake the little wayfarer. Nature, however, avenged the violation of instinct; in a few days the Cardinal drooped, refused to avail himself of liberty, and died.--Ella Gilbert Ives, _Dorchester, Mass._

A Useful Bird

In speaking of the economic value of certain of our birds, a lecturer, quoting Professor Beal, said that in Iowa the Tree Sparrow was estimated to destroy 875 tons of the seeds of noxious weeds annually.

As reported in a local paper, this statement read: "The Tree or Chipping Sparrow destroyed, as discovered by scientific observation, 640,000 tons of the eggs and young of harmful insects."

=Book News and Reviews=

Wild Life at Home: How To Study and Photograph It. By Richard Kearton, F. Z. S. Fully Illustrated by Photographs taken Direct from Nature by C. Kearton. Cassell & Company, Ltd., London, Paris, New York, and Melbourne, 1898. 12mo, pp. xiv + 188. Numerous half-tones. Price, $1.50.

In this book, Mr. Kearton and his brother show that their patience and ingenuity, as well as their field of work, are inexhaustible. It differs from 'With Nature and a Camera' chiefly in being addressed more especially to photographers, the opening chapters being devoted to a description of the outfit required, with practical suggestions as to its use. These are followed by chapters on 'Birds,' 'Mammals', 'Insects,' and the life of 'Pond, River and Seashores.' The illustrations are fully up to the standard of previous work by the same authors, which we have before had occasion to praise so highly, and continued experience with a camera leads us to appreciate more fully than ever the truly marvellous pictures they have secured. Mr. Kearton's paper in this number of Bird-Lore admirably illustrates the practicability of his advice to naturalist-photographers, who, in 'Wild Life at Home' will find both instruction and encouragement. The book should be in every naturalist's library, whether or not he uses a camera.

F. M. C.

Birds. By Annie M. Grant. Report of the R. I. Board of Agriculture, 1899.

The Birds of Ontario, in Relation to Agriculture. By Chas. W. Nash, Ontario Department of Agriculture, Toronto.

In Mrs. Grant's paper we have an epitome of a great amount of useful information. The horticultural and agricultural societies are doing a good work in publishing such papers in their reports, thus ensuring to them a wide circulation among the class who most need this kind of literature.

In that portion of her paper devoted to the 'Decrease in Bird-life,' Mrs. Grant puts her finger on some very sore spots. There can be no doubt that much harm has been done through egg-collecting by pseudo-naturalists, who make no use of their collections except to boast of their size and rarity, and who gather thousands of extra sets for purposes of exchange. Another element of bird destruction is seen in the South, where our common singing birds are so generally offered for sale in the market as food. A campaign of education is needed here. The time wasted in shooting these useful creatures would, if properly applied, produce more and better meat in the shape of domestic poultry, or other equally palatable food. We hope Mrs. Grant will continue her good work.

In Mr. Nash's paper we have another concise statement of the facts with regard to the usefulness of birds from an agricultural point of view. The case of the birds of prey is very clearly and forcibly presented. When these birds do harm--as when they pick up a stray chicken--the evil is open and apparent to everybody; but the good work they are constantly doing is only appreciated after the most careful and systematic observation. The depredations of the vast hordes of small mammals is a constant menace to the interests of husbandry, and more especially to horticulture. Without question, the Hawks and Owls are the most efficient checks upon the increase of these creatures, and it cannot be too often or too forcibly impressed upon the farmers that these birds should be rigorously protected.

With regard to the other birds, the case is equally well put, and illustrated by many interesting and valuable observations and experiments. There can be no question that this is a valuable paper, and that it deserves a wide circulation among agricultural people.

As to the merits of the illustrations with which it is embellished, there may be differences of opinion.--F. E. L. Beal.

On the Birds' Highway. By Reginald Heber Howe, Jr. With Photographic Illustrations by the Author, and a Frontispiece in color from a Painting by Louis Agassiz Fuertes.

This is a contribution to the class of literature which John Burroughs and Bradford Torrey have made so deservedly popular. It cannot, however, be said that the author has reached the standard of his prototypes. His observations were made in the Atlantic states from Virginia to Maine, and his descriptions bear evidence of sympathy with his subject. The illustrations include an admirable frontispiece of Chickadees by Louis Fuertes, thirteen full-page half-tones, for the most part illustrating the localities described, and numerous half-tone 'thumb-nail pictures' in the text, largely taken from mounted birds. Some of the latter are effective; others are too small or too indistinct to be of value to those who would need them.

An appendix gives nominal lists of the birds observed at Bristol, R. I.; Washington, D. C.; Chevy Chase, Md.; Hubbardstown, Mass., and Chateaugay Lake, N. Y.--F. M. C.

The Danger of Introducing Noxious Animals and Birds. By T. S. Palmer. Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture for 1898, pp., 87-110; 1 half-tone plate and 6 cuts in the text.

Birds as Weed Destroyers. By Sylvester D. Judd. Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture for 1898, pp., 221-232; 1 half-tone plate and 7 cuts in the text.

Economic Relations of Birds and Their Food. By F. E. L. Beal. Reprinted from the Proceedings of the Twenty-fourth Annual Meeting of the New Jersey State Horticultural Society, January 4 and 5, 1899.

As long as man's attitude toward nature is the standpoint of dollars and cents, bird-lovers will welcome every fact which places them in possession of a fresh argument to be used where appeals to sentiment are of no avail. It is, therefore, with great satisfaction that we receive these sound, convincing papers on economic zoölogy.

Dr. Palmer's paper has long been needed and, fortunately or unfortunately, so unanswerable are the facts which he presents, that one would imagine universal knowledge of them would be all that was necessary to avert further danger from the introduction of exotic species. The subject, however, should receive the prompt attention of legislators, in order that it may be duly placed under the control of the proper authorities--obviously the officials of the Biologic Survey of the United States Department of Agriculture.

In giving us the results of his studies of the food of certain seed-eating birds, Dr. Judd at the same time places their economic importance so far beyond dispute that we trust every agriculturist in the land may become familiar with his facts and figures. None of the many valuable papers issued by the Biological Survey has had a more obvious value than this one.

In his lecture before the New Jersey Horticultural Society, Professor Beal discusses unprejudicedly birds' power for good or evil. He shows that while insects, especially certain noxious species, have greatly increased since the settlement of this country, birds have decreased, and that in order to restore the balance disturbed by man, an increase in the number of our birds is greatly to be desired.--F. M. C.

Book News

Every lover of animals must rejoice in the phenomenal success achieved by Ernest Seton Thompson's 'Wild Animals I have Known.' Although published only last October, over 14,000 copies have been sold, and the book's popularity increases as its charm becomes more widely known. Mr. Thompson has done more to bridge the gap between human life and animal life than any writer we have known. One has only to read his work to become convinced of one's kinship with the lower forms of life.

=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 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY=

===================================================== Vol. 1 August, 1899 No. 4 =====================================================

=SUBSCRIPTION RATES.=

Price in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, twenty cents a number, one dollar a year, postage paid.

Subscriptions may be sent to the Publishers, at Englewood, New Jersey, 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. Foreign agents, Macmillan and Company, Ltd., London.

Manuscripts for publication, books, etc., for review, should be sent to the Editor at Englewood, New Jersey. ----------------------------------------------------- Advertisements should be sent to the Publishers at Englewood, New Jersey, or 66 Fifth avenue, New York City. ----------------------------------------------------- COPYRIGHTED, 1899, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN. ----------------------------------------------------- Bird-Lore's Motto:

_A Bird in the Bush is Worth Two in the Hand._ -----------------------------------------------------

The advice of a prominent ornithologist to beginners to collect all the birds of a species they can get, has so long misrepresented the necessities of the case and, at the same time, brought legitimate collecting into disrepute, that every one having the interests of the science of ornithology at heart will read with great satisfaction the circular entitled 'Hints to Young Bird Students' which we reprint on another page. Signed by a majority of the professional ornithologists of this country, representing the institutions where ornithology is most actively studied, it may be accepted beyond thought of dispute as representing the true attitude of scientific ornithologists toward the question of collecting. And in place of the advice to kill all the birds "you can get," what do we find? Virtually a plea to abstain from all egg-collecting, to take birds only for purposes of identification, and a statement that the student "will learn more of value by a study of the living bird than by collecting skins."

To our mind, the importance of this circular cannot be over-rated. It marks an epoch in the history of North American ornithology. The future ornithologist is not to be a mere hoarder of birds' skins, but a student of bird-life whose researches, we predict, will prove an invaluable aid in the solution of that most difficult and most important of all biologic problems, the relation of animals to their environment.

* * * * *

The paper by Mrs. Olive Thorne Miller on 'The Ethics of Caging Birds,' published in the last number of Bird-Lore, has been both commended and condemned. Some correspondents have considered it a most rational and unprejudiced treatment of the subject, others have written that as its general tenor might encourage the caging of birds, it was not to be endorsed. Particularly do they deplore what Mrs. Miller feels to be "a work of charity,"--the rescuing of birds "from the discomforts of a bird-store" for, they say, that the dealer replaces the sold bird with another, and the final result is to encourage the trade in birds. Of this there can be no doubt, and the question, therefore, becomes one for debate, as to whether the pleasure to be derived from the companionship of a caged bird, the humanizing influence which may be exerted by association with a creature dependent on us, and the knowledge we may acquire of its habits, justify us in depriving it of its liberty--assuming, of course, that it receives proper care. We shall be glad to receive the opinions of our readers on this subject.

* * * * *

'The Century' for July has an illustrated article on Bird Rock, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, by the Editor of this journal, which, it should be said, would have appeared in Bird-Lore had it not been disposed of before this magazine was established. This statement will also apply to an article on Pelican Island, Florida, which will appear in 'St. Nicholas' for September.

* * * * *

Dr. Coues having retired from the Editorship of 'The Osprey,' Dr. Gill, who had withdrawn his name from recent numbers, assumes control.

=The Audubon Societies=

"_You cannot with a scalpel find the poet's soul, Nor yet the wild bird's song._"

Edited by Mrs. Mabel Osgood Wright (President of the Audubon Society of the State of Connecticut), Fairfield, Conn., to whom all communications relating to the work of the Audubon and other Bird Protective Societies should be addressed.

DIRECTORY OF STATE AUDUBON SOCIETIES

With names and addresses of their Secretaries.

=New Hampshire= Mrs. F. W. Batchelder, Manchester. =Massachusetts= Miss Harriet E. Richards, care Boston Society of Natural History, Boston. =Rhode Island= Mrs. H. T. Grant, Jr., 187 Bowen street, Providence. =Connecticut= Mrs. Henry S. Glover, Fairfield. =New York= Miss Emma H. Lockwood, 243 West Seventy-fifth street, New York City. =New Jersey= Miss Anna Haviland, 53 Sandford Ave., Plainfield, N. J. =Pennsylvania= Mrs. Edward Robins, 114 South Twenty-first street, Philadelphia. =District of Columbia= Mrs. John Dewhurst Patten, 3033 P street, Washington. =Wheeling, W. Va.= Elizabeth I. Cummins, 1314 Chapline street, (branch of Penn Society) Wheeling. =Ohio= Miss Clara Russell, 903 Paradrome street, Cincinnati. =Indiana= Amos W. Butler, State House, Indianapolis. =Illinois= Miss Mary Drummond, Wheaton. =Iowa= Miss Nellie S. Board, Keokuk. =Wisconsin= Mrs. George W. Peckham, 646 Marshall street, Milwaukee. =Minnesota= Mrs. J. P. Elmer, 314 West Third street, St. Paul. =Tennessee= Mrs. C. C. Conner, Ripley. =Texas= Miss Cecile Seixas, 2008 Thirty-ninth street, Galveston. =California= Mrs. George S. Gay, Redlands.

The Responsibility of the Audubon Society

Now that the Audubon Society is recognized as a factor in the higher civilization of the day, it may be well to ask how far it realizes its responsibility as a public educator.

"For the Protection of Birds," is a most reasonable and tangible declaration of motive, but what next?

The male and female public is straightway asked to give up certain habits that it has regarded as inherent rights,--in the cause of humanity and agricultural economy.

So far so good; but should not these would-be teachers of good will to animals, themselves be educated in consistent humanity, in order to keep their doctrines above the ridicule level?

Upon the discrimination of its humanity depends the future of the Audubon Society. A discrimination that shall render its workings logical, and make it able to see that it must at least give as much as it takes. A breadth of knowledge to realize that if the Society restricts the hat trimmings of women, the egg-collecting habits of boys, and the "just to see if I can hit it" proclivities of both boys and men, it is bound to give them something beside "the consciousness of rectitude" in return. The very least it can do is to help them to become as intimately acquainted with "the bird in the bush" as they were with the egg in the pocket and the feather on the hat.

It is here that the educational responsibility of the Audubon Society lies. Instead of issuing tracts simply to decry feather-wearing, and to say that something should be done, I would have each Society send out one or more illustrated bird lectures to the remoter corners of its range, where people do not have the privilege of hearing professional ornithologists. Also to the groups of remote country schools whose scholars have no "key to the fields" that lie so close at hand. I would have the Societies send small circulating libraries of bird books in the same way. To introduce people to the bird in the bush is the way to create a public sentiment to keep it there, and to make it possible to obtain legislative authority for the enactment and keeping of good bird laws, which are the backbone of protection.

Again, there should be no sort of conflict between ultra bird protectionists and legitimate scientific ornithology. That many of the best known ornithologists occupying public positions in the United States favor the restriction of egg-collecting, etc., is amply proved by a leaflet issued in May, by Witmer Stone,[H] called "Hints to Young Bird Students," and signed by such men as J. A. Allen, Robert Ridgway, C. Hart Merriam, A. K. Fisher, Wm. Brewster, F. M. Chapman, John H. Sage, C. W. Richmond, T. S. Palmer, and Wm. Dutcher.

[Footnote H: See page 125 of this number of Bird-Lore.]

The Audubon Societies are responsible for meeting these liberal-minded and progressive scientists half way. There must be anatomists and embryologists to study the human body, why not then, also, of the feathered brotherhood, _only_ it is not necessary for mankind in general to keep skeletons of either birds or people in their closets for this purpose, and the random collecting of either should be regarded as equally reprehensible.

I would see humanity and science allied in this matter. If the Audubon Societies confess that this is impossible, they are taking the responsibility of harnessing humanity with ignorance,--a horse that will drag any companion into the ditch.

Let "For the Protection of Birds" be the banner motto under which the Audubon Society shall go out, as it is bound, to teach (not to preach) the 'bird in the bush,' but the teaching need be none the less humane, and will be far more effectual if, instead of 'dicky-bird' platitudes of uncertain sex and species, it deals out good, sound, popular ornithology.

M. O. W.

The So-called Sparrow War in Boston

In the month of March, 1898, a committee organized by the American Society of Bird Restorers presented to the Mayor of Boston in person the following petition, signed by a host of representative Bostonians:

"_To Hon. Josiah Quincy, Mayor of Boston._

"The undersigned petitioners hereby respectfully represent that the presence in Boston of hosts of the noxious imported Finch, known as the English Sparrow, has come to be a public nuisance, general expense and serious esthetic injury, imperatively calling for prompt municipal abatement.

"Your petitioners would, therefore, most earnestly request that, as the Chief Executive Officer of the city, you direct the immediate reduction and suppression of this pest in such places (instancing the Common and, conditionally, the cemeteries of Boston) as may now be under, or may with this purpose in view be brought under, municipal control."

Under the law of 1890, the Mayor proceeded at once to take such measures as seemed advisable for clearing the Common, Public Garden, and city squares, of the Sparrow pest.

The work was done under the general oversight of the Committee on the English Sparrow, of which Mr. Fletcher Osgood, manager and organizer of the Bird Restorers, was and is the chairman. Five men, with Foreman Kennedy, proceeded to clear English Sparrow nests from the Common, by removing them from orifices in the trees, from openings in the Sanitary Building, and from electric hoods. The nest-boxes, put up years ago by misguided persons to accommodate the English Sparrow were all removed, and the Sanitary Building on the Public Garden was cleared.

In the progress of this work, thousands of small orifices in the trees of the Common (all known to exist) were cleared out and effectively closed with wooden stoppers, and much dead wood, inviting the breeding of the Sparrow, was removed. As a whole, great good in the way of arresting decay and generally improving the trees of the Common was done by Foreman Kennedy and his force, even if we leave out of account the checking of the breeding of the Sparrow. The work began on March 15, and ended April 5. During that period about 5,000 nests and 1,000 eggs were destroyed. No young birds were found. The protest against the work, based mainly on sentimental grounds, which Mr. Angell, of the S. P. C. A., put forth, resulted in two picturesque hearings at the City Hall. An account of these hearings, with some of their informal adjuncts, would certainly entertain and instruct the readers of Bird-Lore were it possible to embody it here.