The Audubon Societies 



205 



classes for bird study which they formed 

 during the summer. This is a move- 

 ment of the utmost importance, as with 

 increasing membership it becomes more 

 and more difficult for the secretary to 

 conduct individual correspondence, and 

 everyone who will band together local 

 members and act as local secretary, will 

 further the interests of the Society more 

 than can be done in any other way. 



We would like to call the attention of 

 our members to the following ; 



1. When this Society was organized 

 the quills used in millinery were all 

 taken from large domestic birds. Lately 

 the Brown Pelican, Eagles, Owls, and 

 Turkey Vulture have been made to pay 

 tribute to the fashions ; and we wish 

 most earnestly to protest against the use 

 of these quills. A good illustration of 

 the feathers to be avoided will be found 

 in the October number of Bird-Lore. 



2. We would also call attention to the 

 fact that this magazine is the official 

 organ of the Audubon Societies, and is 

 essential to anyone desiring to keep up 

 with what is being done for the protec- 

 tion of birds. 



3. As heretofore, we are dependent 

 almost entirely upon voluntary subscrip- 

 tions for carrying on the objects of the 

 organization, and we therefore appeal 

 again for assistance from those inter- 

 ested in furthering the cause of the pro- 

 tection of birds. Increased funds will, 

 of course, enable us to reach a larger 

 number of persons, and to issue a larger 

 amount of literature, for which there is 

 a constant demand. Donations should 

 be forwarded to the treasurer, Mr. 

 William L. Baily, 421 Chestnut street, 

 Philadelphia. 



For the coming year w-e have in view 

 the usual course of lectures, by Mr. 

 Stone, and also the furthering of bird 

 study in the schools, to which end we 

 hope to issue some educational circulars. 

 Jr;LiA Stockton Robins, Scc\v. 



THE WISCONSIN SOCIETY 

 Our busy season is in the spring of 

 the vear. At about Easter time our 



State Superintendent of Schools issued 

 his 'Arbor and Bird-Day Annual,' which 

 contained an invitation to teachers and 

 children to join the Audubon Society. 

 This invitation brought an almost over- 

 whelming response, every day for sev- 

 eral weeks bringing me ten or fifteen 

 letters from would-be branches, and our 

 school membership mounted rapidly to 

 over 10,000. A prize offered to these 

 children for the best personal observa- 

 tion on a Bird Family was won by a 

 little country girl, who wrote a very good 

 composition on the Ground Sparrow. We 

 have tried, with varying degrees of suc- 

 cess, in different places, to institute the 

 work of the ' Bird Restorers' among 

 these children. 



We shall soon have a little library of 

 bird books circulating among the 

 schools, and we are trying to raise 

 money for a set of lantern slides to ac- 

 company a lecture — lecture and slides 

 to be sent from place to place. 



I believe that the Audubon work has 

 already made a deep impression in Wis- 

 consin. The milliners' windows abound 

 in Gulls and Birds of Paradise, but they 

 are not finding a ready sale. As to 

 wings, perhaps it is too much to expect 

 that women will not believe their milli- 

 ners when told that "These wings are 

 all right, because they are made." 



E. G. Peckham, Sec'y. 



The Passing of the Tern 



The surprising results which may fol- 

 low Fashion's demand for a certain kind 

 of bird have never been more clearly 

 shown than in the case of the Terns or 

 Sea Swallows of our Atlantic coasts. 



Useless for food, the birds had escaped 

 the demands of the hunter, and thou- 

 sands nested in security along our 

 beaches. The exquisite purity of their 

 plumage and their unsurpassed graceful- 

 ness on the wing made them a paiticu- 

 larly grateful element of the coast 

 scenery to every lover of the beautiful, 

 while to the prosaic fisherman they often 

 gave welcome evidence of the direction 

 of the land, as with unerring flight they 



