286 Bird -Lore 



Mrs. Johnson read selections from many letters both from teachers and 

 pupils, expressing appreciation of our various traveling outfits. 



The Secretary of Schools reports the interest in Audubon work to be con- 

 centrated in comparatively few places, in spite of the fact that the state has 

 thirty-five local secretaries. The advantage of having school teachers and 

 superintendents as local secretaries was aptly illustrated by the fine report 

 sent Miss Hurd by Lewis Sprague Mills, State Agent in School Supervision, 

 acting in the towns of Avon, Beacon Falls, Bethlehem, Middlebury, Prospect 

 and Sprague, — six towns in four counties. It is his custom, each time when 

 visiting a school, to give a short talk on something of seasonal interest in which 

 lie feels the children will be interested. 



Five hundred and sixty-one new members have been added during the 

 last year. 



The Game Warden reports an increasing respect for the laws, even though 

 in some quarters the foreign element destroy song-birds, though well aware 

 of the law concerning them. 



Herbert K. Job, the recently appointed State Ornithologist, filled the 

 afternoon session with a talk entitled "The Charm and Value of Wild Birds." 

 He also outlined some of the state work planned for the coming year, an inter- 

 esting feature being the pubUcation of a monthly newspaper syndicate letter 

 concerning birds, their protection and study, taken from every standpoint. — 

 Mabel Osgood Wright, President. 



District of Columbia. — Nothing of especial note has taken place in our 

 Society this year. We have had our usual Field Meetings, six in number, 

 with a total attendance of one hundred and four persons, fifty-six of whom 

 had never been on our walks before. This seemed to us a most encouraging 

 sign of increasing interest in the work of our Society. On one of these walks one 

 hundred and seven varieties of birds were noted. Previous to the walks we 

 had a bird-study class of seventy members, the class being divided into two 

 sections, one for beginners, the other for more advanced students. A lecture 

 ■on migration was given by Prof. W. W. Cooke, at the last meeting of the class. 



During the year, we have had several free public lectures, delivered by 

 prominent ornithologists. 



With the United States Biological Survey in our midst, we have many 

 opportunities of learning the work of bird protection in this and other 

 countries. Our Society has taken advantage of these facts, and Dr. Henry 

 Oldys has edited three or four leaflets, under the title "Current Items of 

 Interest," copies of which have been sent to all the State Societies, and have 

 seemed to be much appreciated by all who have seen them. They will be 

 sent to any Society for the cost of printing, which is about four dollars for 

 five hundred copies. It has been proposed that w^ith each issue we should 

 publish the list of the officers of the different Societies. The last issue had 



