Editorials 135 ilirti 3lore A Bi-monthly Magazine Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds OFFICIAL ORGAN UF THE AlDlBljN SOCIETIES Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN Published by THE MACMILLAN COMPANY Vol. 1 AUGUST, 1899 No. 4 SUBSCRIPTION RATES. Price in the United States, Caiia<la, and Mexico, twenty cents a number, one dollar a year, post- age paid. Subscriptions may be sent to the Publishers, at Englewood, New Jersey, or 66 Fifth avenue, New Vork City. Price in all countries in the International Postal Union, twenty-five cents a number, one dollar and a quaiter a year, postage paid. Foreign agents. Macmill.jvn' .and Company. Ltd., London. Manuscripts for publication, books, etc., for re- view, should be sent to the Editor at Englewood, New Jersey. Advertisements should be sent to the Pub- lishers 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 Busk is U'orlli Two in Ihr Hand. The advice of a prominent ornithologist to beginners to collect all the birds of a species they can get, has so long misrep- resented the necessities of the case and, at the same time, brought legitimate col- lecting 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 pro- fessional ornithologists of this country, representing the institutions where orni- thology is most actively studied, it may be accepted beyond thought of dispute as representing the true attitude of scientific ornithologists toward the question of col- lecting. 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 state- ment 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,' pub- lished 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 cag- ing 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 discom- forts 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 companion- ship of a caged bird, the humanizing in- fluence which may be exerted by associa- tion 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 illus- trated 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. Nicho- las ' for September. Dr. Coues having retired from the Edi- torship of 'The Osprey,' Dr. Gill, who had withdrawn his name from recent numbers, assumes control.
