INTRODUCTION 15 



with ever increasing momentum, until now it is the gov- 

 erning head of twenty-nine distinct State societies, as 

 well as eighty-five affiliated clubs and similar organiza- 

 tions. In 1916 it counted a life membership of 356, 

 with 3,024 sustaining members, and realized a total in- 

 come of over $100,000. It should be added that during 

 the past six years over 2,900 Junior Audubon Clubs 

 have been formed in the schools, through which nearly 

 600,000 children have been instructed in the principles 

 of the Audubon Society. Well may it be that this ad- 

 mirable organization, with its successful efforts for re- 

 medial legislation in state and nation ; its initiative, with 

 the aid of the National Government, in establishing 

 Federal reservations or sanctuaries for the perpetuation 

 of wild life ; its educational activities through the exten- 

 sion of its influence to the pupils of the public schools; 

 and its watch and ward over all the varied interests of 

 its cause, will keep the name of Audubon greener to all 

 future time than the most cherished of his works. 



Of Audubon's works the public now sees but little 

 and knows even less, all without exception having been 

 long out of print. His admirable plates of birds and 

 mammals have been widely copied and still serve for the 

 illustration of popular books, but most of his publica- 

 tions were projected on too large and expensive a scale 

 for general circulation, having been first sold to sub- 

 scribers only and often at great cost. No complete 

 reprint, revision or abridgment of his principal volumes 

 has been made for half a century (see Bibliography, 

 Appendix V). No complete bibliography of Audu- 

 bon has ever been prepared, and none will remain com- 

 pleted long, for it is hard to imagine a time when com- 

 ment on his life, his drawings, and his adventures will 

 altogether cease. 



