Editorials 33 iStrti itore 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 MACM1LLAN COMPANY Vol. VIII Published February 1. 1906 No. 1 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: .4 Bird in the Bush is Worth Two in the Hand The Christmas Bird Census The thousands of observations included in Bird-Lore's six Christmas Bird Censuses form a mass of information concerning the distribution and numbers of our winter birds, such as one will look for elsewhere in vain. It would be interesting to compare these data with the results of similar ob- servations made at Christmas time, in England; and we hope next year to present returns from observers in England. Tabulation of these records will afford a definite basis for comparing the bird-life of different years, and enable us to determine whether certain phenomena are merely local or widespread. For instance, for the first time in years there are no Chickadees in Central Park, New York City, greatly to the regret of resident bird-lovers. Is their absence merely a coincidence, or does it possess a broader significance? The census of 1905 contains reports of some sixty observers north of Washington and east of the Alle- ghanies, of whom 43 include the Chickadee, the total number recorded being 598. But in 1904, among the same number of census takers, 53 enumerated the Chickadee, the total number being 1,015. The absence of the Chickadee from Central Park this winter is, therefore, presumably connected with an apparent decrease in the bird's numbers. In the case of some other species the agree- ment in the returns of the last two years is so marked as to increase our belief in the scientific value of these statistics. Thus in 1904, 32 out of 60 eastern observers list the Song Sparrow, the total being 242, while in 1905 it is entered in 31 out of 60 returns, the total being 224. We have made no attempt to extend the comparison, but, from the illustrations given, it is clear we have here data of no small value. Singularly enough, the only boreal bird recorded by more than one or two observers is the Northern Shrike, which is included in eleven reports as compared with three in ^04. If the presence of boreal birds is to be attributed to the failure of the food sup- ply in their more northern customary winter homes, why should the Shrike, in winter preeminently a bird-eater, desert what, in the absence of boreal birds in more southern latitudes, is doubtless a land of plenty? Popular Science in the Newspapers It is difficult to understand why the daily press shouid have so little regard for the truth — at least when nothing is to be made by falsehood ! Just what is gained by objectless, stupid inaccuracy it is hard to say. An article on some scientific subject, for example, has no news value, and we may presume it is published for the edification of the more intelligent reader. Often, how- ever, such articles contain so many gross misstatements that far from winning the commendation due alleged newspaper 'enter- prise, ' they arouse only contempt or ridicule. Woe to the man whose misfortune it is to be interviewed for an article of this nature, unless he has the foresight to make only written replies to the questions asked him. For example, in a recent issue of the 'New York Herald,' to his no small surprise, the editor of Bird-Lore finds himself credited with the following remarkable statements in regard to the colors of birds: "The plumage of the domesticated fowls [in .civilization] becomes more brilliantly marked and their idiosyncrasies more accentuated; as witness the Japanese long-tailed fowl with tail feathers many feet long, as against his brother, the common barnyard rooster. Also the long-tailed, bright-marked peacock of our country homes, who is doubtless a development of the smaller and sadder-hued Bird of Paradise " !
