Editorials 141 feixt) Hoxt A Bi-monthly Magazine Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds ■OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THR AUDUBON SOCIETIES Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN Published by THE MACMILLAN COMPANY Vol. VIII Published August 1, 1906 No. 4 SUBSCRIPTION RATES Price in the United States, Canada and Mexico twenty cents a number, one dollar a year, post- age paid. COPYRIGHTED, 1906, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN Bird-Lore's Motto: A Bird in the Bush is Worth Two in the Hand August has never received its due from the bird student. Heat, mosquitos and dense vegetation, together with a certain subsidence in enthusiasm, following the de- velopments of the nesting season, discourage active field work during this month ; never- theless, ornithologically, August is one of the most interesting months of the year. The spring migration follows the com- paratively barren winter time as a feast after famine, but the beginnings of the fall mi- gration are obscured in a period when birds seem actually to be becoming daily less abundant. As a matter of fact, they are increasing in numbers. In the marshes this is apparent enough, as the Swallows, Blackbirds and Bobolinks gather there, but it is much less evident in the woods, where only the most careful ob- servation will reveal the presence of the first migrant Warblers, Flycatchers and other early transients. A recent experience in the Klamath Lake region emphasizes the truth of Mr. W. L. Finley's statement (See Bird-Lore for December, 1905) that the traffic in Grebes' plumage was to be controlled in New York City, not on the bird's nesting-ground. At the date of Mr. Finley's observations in this region, no Grebes, we understand, were be- ing killed, not because of any restrictions imposed by law, but simply, it appears, be- cause the price per skin was too low to make hunting profitable. Mr. Finley writes of finding sixty Grebes' nests in a single small tule island, and his admirable pictures show numbers of the birds. We, however, found but one nest and saw only an occasional wary bird. Skinned bodies floating here and there told the story of their disappearance, which was finally put into words by a Grebe-hunter himself on whom we chanced one morning. Resting on his oars, he summed up the situation by saying that when the price of Grebes fell to fifteen cents each they were not worth hunting, but now, that they had gone up to fifty cents, there was money in it. Living in a house-boat, hidden some- where in the trackless marshes, this degene- rate representative of the pioneer trapper seemed far from the world of millinery ad- ornment, but no stock-broker keeps his eye on the tape more keenly than he on the quota- tions of the New York feather markets, which the dealers see that he duly receives, and the moment the figures appear favorable he becomes a factor in the situation. When we have convinced the wearer of the borrowed plumes of her moral responsi- bilities in the matter, we may turn our at- tention to the esthetic education of the man who has secured them for her. In the mean- time, an appeal to the law, in Oregon at least, seems of no avail. We had supposed that after the passage of the A. O. U. Model Law in Oregon, Grebes were protected, but an opinion lately rendered to the game- warden at Klamath Falls by the attorney- general of the state, denies the birds legal protection, on just what ground we are not at this moment aware. In the present instance, however, the ef- fects of the demands of fashion became in- significant when compared with those which will shortly follow the demands of an increas- ing human population. The government has selected Lower Klamath and Tule lakes for "reclamation" by drainage. The work is already well advanced, and the birds will soon find that they have failed to secure title to their homes through proper entry at the land office. The nine points of possession will yield to the one of might, and alfalfa will grow where the Pelicans, Gulls, Terns and Cormorants now rear their young. — San Fraticisco, July 12, IQ06.
