THE LA RUE HOLMES NATURE LOVERS LEAGUE. 337 



<?' 



'? 



^ The La Rue Holmes Nature Lovers League 5 



t. 



* 



By George Klingle, Summit, New Jersey 



Ex 

 Thereto 

 League 



xplanation;— The aims of this League are in many respects the same as those of The Agassiz Association 

 »re it has been proposed that the adult interests be represented by "The Guide to Naiure"and that the 

 co-operate, or possibly b« affiliated, with The Agassiz Association. — E. F. B. 



The wild flower known by the great- 

 est number is the yellow adder's 



tongue. 



Those identifying the largest num- 

 ber of wild flowers : Frederick Ford, 

 Emery Brown, Ellen Smith. 



Names of members identifying the 

 largest number of birds: Annie Moli- 

 tor, Charles Parse, Robert Pollard. 



In reports from L. H. Nature League 

 Chapters, concerning the most birds 

 and wild flowers identified, the Chat- 

 ham, New Jersey, Public School Chap- 

 ter leads. 



Establishment of a Bird Refuge. 



It gives me pleasure to state that a 

 result in behalf of bird protection cov- 

 eted by members of the L. H. Nature 

 League, has been attained, and the 

 deeds, giving possession of an island 

 on the coast of New Jersey, hereafter 

 to be known as The L. H. Nature 

 League Bird Refuge, are in the hands 

 of the General Secretary. 



The movement, under this name, for 

 nature-protection, was but just organ- 

 ized, in 1906, when Mr. Wm. Dutcher, 

 President of the National Audubon So- 

 ciety, who is ever alive to the require- 

 ments of our little feathered friends, 

 directed attention to the fact that New 

 Jersey stood among those states de- 

 linquent in the matter of providing a 

 coast-bird refuge, and that unless ac- 

 tion were soon taken to secure breed- 

 ing grounds the gulls would eventually 

 be exterminated from the borders of 

 the state. 



Later on Mr. Dutcher kindly con- 

 sented to negotiate for the purchase 

 in the name of the L. H. Nature Lovers 

 League, the island near Stone Harbor, 

 off the coast of Cape May County, 



which has been the nesting-place of 

 gulls, and other birds for centuries. 



The demand, by the thoughtless 

 among American women, for the plum- 

 age of gulls, inaugurated a slaughter 

 on the island, some years ago, through 

 which thousands of the birds perished, 

 and had not the National Audubon So- 

 ciety gone to the rescue, and under- 

 taken a competent warden-service, the 

 wings of the gulls had ceased to sweep 

 across New Jersey waters. 



The L. H. Nature League now takes 

 up the matter of appropriation for 

 warden-service, and is pleased in being 

 able to state that the birds are again 

 increasing in numbers, about fifteen 

 hundred now occupying the island. 



If it be asked what is the especial 

 utility in the preservation of this form 

 of bird life, we would hasten to re- 

 mind the questioner that the gulls are 

 the protectors of humanity in two 

 ways. They are the scavengers of the 

 coast through whose agency the waste 

 matter of cities is largely disposed of 

 and diseased conditions prevented. To 

 the presence of gulls many a seaman 

 owes his life. The wings of the gulls 

 sweep through fogs and storms, when 

 lights, and other warnings, fail amidst 

 the obscurity and roar of the tempest, 

 to give notice of approach to land. For 

 the fisherman, the gulls do friendly 

 service, for when the gulls stoop to 

 the waters, there, are congregate the 

 schools of fishes. 



The gull is one of nature's endow- 

 ments which man needs to cherish as 

 a friend whose wings sweep on for 

 utility, as well as for service in the 

 realm of poetic nature. 



The only two breeding grounds of 

 the laughing gull, on the coast of New 

 Jersey, are located at Stone Harbor, 

 the L. H. Nature League Bird Re- 

 fuge, and at Little Egg Harbor. Our 



