Page:Bird-lore Vol 01.djvu/355

Editorials 127 Hirti'ilore 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. II AUGUST, 1900 No. 4 SUBSCRIPTION RATES. Price in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, twenty cents a number, one dollar a year, post- age paid. Subscriptions may be sent to the Publishers, at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 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 CoMPANV, LTD., London. COPYRIGHTED, 1900, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN. Bird-Lore's Motto : A Bird in the Bush is IVorth Two in the Hand. Bird-Lore is printed at Harrisburg, Pa. and in the future it will be mailed from that city. All communications, therefore, in relation to the publication of this magazine, notices of change of address^ etc. should be addressed to The Macmillan Co., Crescent and Mulberr}- streets, Harris" burg, Pa. An accumulation of notes from the field and publications for review has compelled us to omit from this issue the Depart- ment for 'Teachers and Students.' The position taken by the Audubon Societies, thus far "heard from, in regard to the proposed agreement with the Milli- nery Merchants' Protective Association, to the effect that to sanction, even passively, the killing of birds anywhere would violate the cardinal principles of the Societies, is unanswerable, and renders impossible further negotiation with the milliners, which we are assured would have resulted in securing for our birds such protection as we cannot now expect to give them for many years. Thus, for example, when discussing with the representatives of the milliners the proposed agreement, the editor of this magazine demanded that the term ' North American bird ' must be interpreted to mean any species of North American bird without regard to the country in which it was found, and that birds whose feathers could not be distin- guished from those of North American birds be included, the demand was agreed to ; and when it was explained that such agreement meant the complete abandon- ment of aigrettes and the practical dis- continuance of the use of the feathers of Grebes, Gulh, and Terns, they still accepted this interpretation of the agree- ment. Now, in our opinion, when houses representing go per cent of the millinery trade in this country propose not to deal in the feathers of the very birds which we are at present using our best efforts to protect, the proposition is at least worth considering. We do not, however, intend to discuss the matter further, for, as we have said, the reply made by the Audubon Societies thus far heard from is unanswer- able, and as these Societies represent a majority of the more active Societies, we sincerely hope that their verdict will be accepted by those which have not as yet acted on the matter. In commenting on the milliners' pro- posed agreement in 'The Auk,' the official organ of the American Ornithologists' Union, Dr. J. A Allen writes, "This appeal is certainly entitled to respectful consid- eration, since, on the one hand, it guaran- tees on the part of a powerful association of dealers, that the killing of North American birds shall at once cease, and that all traffic in them for such use shall also cease after a certain date." We earnestly hope, however, that fhe American Ornithologists' Union will sup- port the Andubon Societies in the stand they have taken, for nothing could be more disastrous to the cause of bird protection than lack of harmony among its advocates.