Part 19
'Wilson Bulletin,' No. 26, issued May 30, 1899, has an extremely interesting paper by its editor, Lynds Jones, recording the number of species observed by him on May 8, in Lorain county, Ohio. Work was begun about Oberlin at 3.30 a. m., and continued at 11 a. m. at Lorain on the shore of Lake Erie, resulting, finally, in a record of 112 species identified with the aid of an "Eight Power Bausch & Lomb" field-glass during one day. This number speaks volumes for the observer's activity and the richness of his field; we doubt if it has ever been exceeded in the same period of time in North America.
Mr. C. Barlow publishes in the May-June issue of the Bulletin of the Cooper Ornithological Club, of which he is editor-in-chief, an eloquent appeal to ornithologists to take only such birds as they may require for their own use, and not to collect birds at all during the nesting season. Particularly does he condemn collecting for profit, saying with equal force and truth, "Every naturalist owes it to science to protect the natural beauties with which the Creator has blessed the earth, and how can the collector, with never a twinge of conscience, quiet the sweet voices of the woodland in a fashion little less than barbarous, for pecuniary gain."
We congratulate Mr. Barlow on the stand he has taken, and we congratulate all bird-lovers on the fact that his declaration of principles adds another journal to the list of those in which the egg-thief cannot boast of his exploits.
The Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, appreciating the significance of the widespread and constantly increasing interest in birds, has decided to introduce a volume on ornithology into its course of 'Required Reading,' Miss Merriams' 'Birds Through an Opera-glass,' one of the first, as it is one of the best text-books for beginners, having been selected for this purpose. Implying, as it does, the formation of a class of several thousand bird students, this may be considered a step in educational ornithology of unusual importance.
'The American' for August 26, commenting on the 'Hints to Young Bird Students,' published in Bird-Lore for August, says: "This paper deserves the most serious consideration from all. It is well meant, it is timely, it is sensible; the friendly advice it tenders should be accepted and observed."
A Writer on the slaughter of birds for millinery purposes, in 'The New Illustrated Magazine' for September, whose zeal for the cause of bird protection exceeds his knowledge of ornithology, makes, among others, the remarkable statement that "Florida is now the only country in which Hummingbirds are found, except as rarities." He also gives a unique bit of information in regard to the Toucan, which is said to use its "big beak" to trim its "primary tail-feathers"!
=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 October, 1899 No. 5 =====================================================
=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._ -----------------------------------------------------
At first thought there seemed to be little connection between the 'closet' ornithologist, minutely examining his series of specimens and describing differences which, to the untrained eye, do not exist, and the bird-lover in the fields and woods with heart atune to nature's songsters. But one has only to read Dr. Allen's article on the American Ornithologists' Union in order to appreciate the close relationship existing between scientific and popular ornithology. The organization of the Union brought isolated bird students throughout the country in touch with the leaders in ornithology and, perhaps, for the first time, made them aware that there were successors to Wilson and Audubon.
This result was due largely to the work of the Union's Committee on Migration, which, under the direction of its chairman, Dr. C. Hart Merriam, sent out thousands of circulars calling for observers to supply it with data on migration. Circumstances have thus far permitted the publication of only a small portion of the vast amount of information secured by this committee, but even if not another word is set in type, it can be said to have created a new era in the history of American ornithology. It asked for assistance, but it gave far more than it received. Its chairman and his superintendents of districts became, as it were, instructors in ornithology, with pupils in nearly every state in the Union and throughout Canada. The value of the advice they gave to students who had been plodding in the dark, prompted only by an innate love of birds, cannot be overestimated, but we believe it to be a demonstrable fact that the popularity of bird-study in this country to-day is due more to the aid and encouragement given students by the members of the American Ornithologists' Union's Committee on Migration than to any other influence.
* * * * *
In connection with the publication of a plate of 'Quills to Avoid,' we would add to Mrs. Wright's plea for the Eagle an appeal for the preservation of the Brown Pelican. The feathers of this bird are now worn so commonly--hundreds may be seen in New York City daily--that every one knowing of the ease with which the bird may be killed and its comparatively restricted range, must feel that at the present rate of destruction its early extinction, at least in the United States, is assured.
From Texas reports come to us of the slaughter of Brown Pelicans in large numbers, and we have also heard rumors that they are being killed for their feathers in Florida. If the residents of the last-named state could be made to realize how infinitely more valuable to them a live Pelican is than a dead one, we do not for a moment doubt that its destroyers would speedily receive their deserts.
This apparently ungainly, but in reality singularly graceful bird is the most picturesque element in the life of Florida's coasts, where its size and familiarity render it conspicuous to the least observing. To the tourist it is as much an object of interest as the alligators or cabbage palms. It is distinctly strange and foreign, and its presence lends a character to the view given by no other bird in Florida. Its loss would, therefore, be irreparable, and we appeal to every lover of Florida to aid in its protection.
=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. Reports, etc., designed for this department should be sent at least one month prior to the date of publication.
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.
Consistency.
Audubonites may be divided into two classes as regards their attitude toward the wearing of feathers,--the moderates and the total abstainers.
The moderates hold that they violate none of the interests of bird protection in its fullest sense by wearing the plumes of game or food birds, or those of the Ostrich, which is as legitimately raised for its feathers as a sheep for its wool. In short, they see the necessity of keeping feather-wearing within conservative bounds, and elect to take the individual responsibility of so doing.
The total abstainers say: "Let us break ourselves altogether of the feather wearing habit. We shall be more conspicuously consistent as bird protectionists, and we shall not be called upon to settle fine points and follow difficult boundaries. We need not know anything about plumage, and never have to decide whether the wings used by milliners are really those of food birds, or the pinions of song birds disguised with dye. Or if the fearfully manufactured confections are the heads of real Owls and Parrots twisted out of all semblance to nature, or merely compounds of Chicken feathers and celluloid." Both of these attitudes are equally useful to the cause if they are maintained consistently, but inevitably the way of the total abstainers is the easier of the two. The total abstainers need not, to quote Hamlet, "know a hawk from a handsaw." While, in order to be consistent, the moderates must be bird students of no mean intelligence if they would keep safely on the exceedingly narrow pathway that divides the feathers that may be, from those that _must not_ be worn, not alone by Audubonites, but by any woman who has either sense or sensibility. A pathway? A slack wire is the better simile, so treacherous is the footing.
What is it that causes the downfall of many of the moderates, who know the common birds fairly well, and could not be hoodwinked into buying Egret's plumes or dyed swallow wings?
You can guess easily, for you have seen the tempter protruding above and behind the up-to-date outing hat the entire season, and unless you are unusually lucky it has poked you reproachfully in the eye, as if calling your attention to its plight.
"The Quill of course!"
Yes, the Quill is the mischief-maker. At its introduction many years ago, the Quill was at first the harmless feather of a Crow, or a Goose quill sedate enough to make a pen for a judge. After awhile it took on dabs of color and even spangles, but all this time it was a good safe outing and rainy day ornament.
Then a change came, the Quill grew suddenly longer with a curl to its tip that made one wonder, if natural, how its original wearer had lived with it. This Quill, however, did not stay well in curl, and less than a year ago it was displaced by the reigning favorite, a Quill as aggressively impertinent as any that decks the cap of the operatic Mephisto, but not half as becoming to the wearer.
Now comes the inconsistency of the moderates. They wear these Quills blindly, because they have not studied birds thoroughly enough to distinguish between plumages except when aided by decided color. The sentence, "It is only a Quill," covers deadly sins of omission. I have cornered several women who are what might be called aggressive Audubonites: "Do you know that the notched Quill in your hat is a pinion of the American Eagle?" "Oh no, you must be mistaken, it surely is only a Goose, or perhaps a Turkey feather, and besides,"--drawing herself up with superior wisdom, "Eagles are very rare birds, that fly so high it is very difficult to shoot them, and I know at least fifty people who are wearing these Quills."
Rare? yes, pinion of peerless flight! But what bird can fly so high or find so eery a resting place as to escape the 'desire of the eye' of fashion? Pause a moment, well-meaning sisters of 'little knowledge.' Hold a Quill class and lay your outing hats on the dissecting table! Study out the things you have been wearing, and you will be wiser, and I hope sadder also, resolving either to join the total abstainers, or to devote enough time to bird study to be consistent in your actions.
"But," you may say, "We are consistent even now. The Eagle is neither a song bird, an insect eater, nor a game bird, and from an economic standpoint it can only be considered as a bird of prey and an eater of wastage."
Yes, this is all true, and yet, in the higher view of life, the poetic value of things must take rank with the practical. And what bird expresses wild grandeur and poetry of motion in so great a degree as the Eagle? What has Burroughs recently said of it?--"The days on which I see him are not quite the same as the other days. I think my thoughts soar a little higher all the rest of the morning; I have had a visit from a messenger of Jove. The lift or range of those great wings has passed into my thought."
Pegasus harnessed to a plow or 'Cæsar dead and turned to clay,' stopping a hole 'to keep the wind away,' would not be a greater misuse than thus plucking the pinions of our national Bird of Freedom to act as rudders to women's hats.
M. O. W.
Audubon's Seal
(From a granddaughter of Audubon)
Audubon's seal was made from a pen-and-ink sketch of the Wild Turkey, being the portrait of a bird weighing forty pounds. The painting from which the seal was reduced measured about thirty-six by twenty-eight inches. A lady friend in Liverpool having seen the painting, was talking, with others, to Audubon about it, and said to him, "Now you ought to have this Turkey for your coat-of-arms." Audubon said that he was too much of an American to use a crest, or coat-of-arms, but that the picture could be easily reduced to the size of a fob seal, then all the fashion for gentlemen's watch chains. Some surprise was expressed by the company present at this statement, particularly by the "Lady Rathbone," as Audubon was want to call her. No more was said then, but in due time a tiny pen-and-ink sketch, perfect in every detail, with the motto, "America my Country," was sent to Mme. Rathbone, with Audubon's signature and compliments. Not long after, Audubon received, to his amazement, a beautiful fob seal, cut in topaz, which he wore on his watch chain as long as he lived. It is now a valued possession held by his family. The accompanying cut is made from a die of this seal, and exactly reproduces it in size, etc.--D. T. A. Tyler.
Report of the Audubon Society of the District of Columbia
For the District of Columbia the Secretary has a most encouraging report.
On Saturday, March 25, a very successful exhibit of spring millinery was given at the Hotel Corcoran, the ladies' parlors being kindly loaned for the occasion. About 300 women attended the exhibit in spite of a pouring rain, lasting the whole afternoon. Quite a number of bonnets and hats were sold, and every person attending left well supplied with Audubon literature.
In April, a free lecture by Mr. Henry Olds, entitled "Some Familiar Birds," was given at the First Baptist church, which was also kindly loaned for this most interesting talk. The lecture was fully illustrated by colored lantern slides, and was made doubly entertaining by Mr. Olds' clever imitations of the notes of the various birds explained. About 400 persons attended this lecture.
The Rev. Mr. Leasitt explained the aim and objects of the Audubon Society, Dr. C. Hart Merriam introducing the lecturer in the unavoidable absence of the President of the Society, Surgeon General George M. Sternberg. Audubon literature was again distributed, and some copies of Mrs. L. W. Maynard's valuable book 'Birds of Washington and Vicinity,' were sold.
The Audubon Society has started an Audubon collection of books in the new Free Library. This collection is designed primarily to be books of reference, large and expensive works, more especially for the use of teachers.
For the work in the public schools, Dr. T. S. Palmer and Miss Elizabeth V. Brown have been untiring and most successful. In the spring of 1898, two classes were arranged, one for teachers in the Normal School, in charge of Dr. Palmer, and one for teachers in the Second and Fourth grades, in the hands of Mr. H. C. Oberholser. The classes were limited to 12 members each, and work extended over ten weeks in 1898-9. Specimens were kindly loaned by the Biological Survey, and the classes were enabled to handle, compare, and identify skins of 175 species of the 290 birds recorded for the vicinity of Washington. These specimens included nearly all the land birds from this vicinity. Hints were given concerning the classification of birds, the characters of the principal groups, and the use of keys.
Short talks were also given on especially interesting topics, such as the 'Relation of Birds to other Vertebrates,' 'Feathers and Feather Structure,' 'Flight,' 'Migration,' 'Food,' and 'Nesting Habits.'
The Society this spring purchased 1,000 Audubon buttons from the Society of the State of Wisconsin, Miss Elizabeth V. Brown taking charge of their sale. A large number were sold to children in and outside the schools, and while not strictly members of the Society, they became more interested in the birds through the wearing of this attractive button.
Miss Florence A. Merriam has given several valuable talks this past spring, notably one at the Washington Club, before an audience of about 200 women, which created great enthusiasm and brought the Society an increase in membership. The Secretary has been untiringly busy in trying to get societies organized in the South and in some western states.
Jeanie Maury Patten, _Sec'y._
ANNOUNCEMENT ------------
The Child Life Readers
BY
ETTA AUSTIN BLAISDELL
Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Brockton, Mass.
I. CHILD LIFE-- A First Reader Price, 25 cts.
II. CHILD LIFE IN TALE AND FABLE-- A Second Reader Price, 35 cts.
III. CHILD LIFE IN MANY LANDS-- A Third Reader In preparation
IV. CHILD LIFE IN LITERATURE-- A Fourth Reader In preparation
The central idea of these books is to _hold the child's interest_ by giving him reading matter (profusely illustrated) that he _can understand and enjoy_. The lessons, therefore, relate exclusively to _child life_.
The First and Second Readers have _easier reading-matter_ and _more of it_ than do most of the other readers now available for first and second year. They have been graded with the utmost care.
These books, beginning with the Second Reader, have been planned as an _introduction to literature_. The subject-matter, therefore, is confined to material of _recognized literary value_.
The aim of the publishers has been to produce _an artistic set of Readers_ that shall be mechanically as nearly perfect as possible.
As a unique feature in binding, they would call attention to the _covers, which are water-proof_, and can be cleansed, when soiled by constant handling, without injury to the book.
Recent Publications on Nature Study
=Bailey's Lessons With Plants.= $1.10 _net_ Suggestions for Seeing and Interpreting some of the Common Forms of Vegetation.
=Bailey's First Lessons with Plants.= 40 cts. _net_ "Extremely original and unusually practical."
=Harding's The Liquefaction of Gases. Its Rise and Development.= $1.50 Complete and scientific, in a popular style.
=Ingersoll's Wild Neighbors.= $1.50 "Instructive as well as delightful."--_Popular Science Monthly._
=Jackman's Nature Study for Grammar Grades.= $1 _net_ Proposes a few of the problems within the comprehension of grammar school pupils, which arise in a thoughtful study of nature, with suggestions for their solution.
=Lange's Hand-Book of Nature Study.= $1 _net_ "The style of the book is fresh and inspiring."
=Lange's Our Native Birds. How to Protect Them and Attract Them to Our Homes. _Just ready._=
=Murché's Science Readers.= Vol. I. 25 cents. Vol. II. 25 cents. Vol. III. 40 cents. Vol. IV. 40 cents _net_. Vol. V. 50 cents _net_. Vol. VI. 50 cents _net_.
=Weed's Life Histories of American Insects.= $1.50 "An unusually attractive book."--_Dial._
=Wilson's Nature Study in Elementary Schools.= First Nature Reader 35 cents Second Nature Reader 35 cents Teacher's Manual 90 cents
See, also, the new book by Mrs. Wright, described on another page
PUBLISHED BY
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY, New York
* * * * *
VOL. 1 20c. a Copy No. 6 DECEMBER, 1899 $1 a Year
=Bird-Lore=
Edited by
FRANK M. CHAPMAN
The Macmillan Company
ENGLEWOOD, N. J.
NEW YORK LONDON
_R. Weber_
COPYRIGHT, 1899, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN
=Bird-Lore=
December, 1899
CONTENTS