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A Bi-monthly Magazine Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THF. AIDUBON SOCIETIES Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN Published by THE MACMILLAN COMPANY Vol. Ill Published December 1. 1901 No. 6 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 Company, Ltd., London. COPYRIGHTED, 19OI, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN. Bird-Lore's Motto: A Bird in the Bush is Worth Two in the Hand. No small part of the pleasure found in the management of Bird-Lore comes through the large number of letters received from the magazine's readers. Many of the letters are written solely to express their writers' approval of Bird-Lore, and they are very welcome. Others contain requests for information or advice, and, indicating an active interest in bird study, are equally welcome. It is always a priv- ilege to render assistance where it is de- sired. Greatly to our regret, however, the margin of time left from days fully occupied with professional duties is far too small to enable us to answer promptly and ade- quately the communications of our corre- spondents, and we, therefore, beg their kind indulgence when our replies to their queries seem unexcusably brief. We sincerely wish it were possible to give each letter the attention it deserves. 1901 The past year has witnessed a continuance of the steadily increasing interest in the study of birds and, as heretofore, we may mention briefly the more important publisiied results of the year's work relating to .Aineri- <an birds. .Among scieiuifi<- and technical publica- tions of first importance is the first of the eight volumes of Mr. Ridgway's great work on the birds of North America north of the Isthmus of Panama. This volume treats of the Finches and will be reviewed in a sub- sequent issue of Bird-Lore. The third volume of Bowlder Sharpe's ' Hand List of the Birds of the World' will be of service to working ornithologists of all countries; and of especial interest to American students is the Tenth Supplement of the A. O. U. Check List, with its welcome antidote for the disease of feather splitting, from which American ornithology has suffered of late. Dr. R. M. Strong's 'Quantitative Study of Variation ' might also be administered in large doses with the hope that due consider- ation of his careful discriminative methods would save the pages of our scientific publi- cations from much undigested material. In the line of original investigation Hubert Lyman Clark's Studies in Pterylo- graphy and Dr. J. Dwight's continued work on the molt of birds should be noticed, and although of a very different nature. Profes- sor Herrick's ' Home Life of Birds ' with its close observations of the life of the nest, should be here included. A feature of the year's publications is the number and excellence of local bird lists which has appeared, not based on a few months' observation, but adequately repre- senting the character of the bird-life of the region of which they treat. Among them we may note Babson's ' Birds of Princeton,' Eaton's ' Birds of Western New York,' Em- body's 'Birds of Madison County, N. V.,' Morris' ' Birds of Springfield, Mass.," Howe and Allen's 'Birds of Massachusetts,' Mc- Gregor's ' Birds of Santa Cruz County, Calif.,' and Grinnell's ' Birds of the Kotze- bue Sound Region,' the latter containing much new information. Economic ornithology is represented by Judd's 'Sparrows in Relation to Agricul- ture ' and for tiie teacher and general reader there are Mrs. Eckstorm's 'The Bird Book ' and 'The Woodpeckers,' Mrs. Miller's Second Book of Birds," Babcock's Bird- Day and How to Prepare for It,' lorrey's • Everyday Birds," lii.tfinann's ' Bird Por-