EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT 



Edited by WILLIAM DUTCHER 



Address all coirespondence, and send all remittances for dues and contributions to 

 the National Association of Audubon Societies, 1974 Broadway, New York City 



President Dutcher 



Those closest to President William 

 Dutcher find little for encouragement in 

 his continued illness. The paralytic 

 stroke, which seven months ago took him 

 with cruel suddenness from the service of 

 a happy and wonderfully useful life, has 

 rendered him entirely incapable of any 

 activities. Occasionally he is lifted to a 

 chair, but most of the time he simply lies 

 in bed, where, propped on pillows, he 

 often looks out over the beautiful garden 

 of his Plainfield home and follows with 

 keen interest the movements of the birds 

 which gather about the nesting-boxes he 

 built for them. His mind seems clear, and 

 his face shows enjoyment when occasion- 

 ally a letter is read, or some cherished 

 friend is allowed to see him for a few 

 minutes. — T. Gilbert Pe.4rson. 



Levy Plumage Bill 



Apparently, Assembly Bill Xo. 359, 

 introduced in the New York Legislature 

 bj- Assemblyman A. J. Levy, was designed 

 chiefly to open up the traffic in Heron 

 aigrettes. The wording, however, was of 

 such peculiar character that it is the 

 general opinion of those who have studied 

 it most closely that it would open up the 

 way for the sale of other feathers and 

 place in jeopardy many birds of Xew 

 York state. Later, it was amended so as 

 to permit without restriction the sale of 

 the feathers of birds of prey coming from 

 without the state. At the date of this 

 writing (May 17), the bill is understood 

 to be in the hands of the Rules Committee, 

 having passed there from the Assembly 

 Committee on Forest, Fish and Game. 

 This is a customary disposition of all bills 

 which are still pending when the end of 

 the legislative session approaches. 



The fight which the friends of birds 

 have waged in New York state against 

 the passage of this measure has been a 

 most notable one, and the National and 

 State Audubon Societies has had the 

 active and earnest cooperation of many 

 other organizations. Among these may 

 be mentioned The Camp-Fire Club of 

 America; the New York Forest, Fish and 

 Game League; the New York Zoological 

 Society; the Wild Life Protective Associ- 

 ation; the New York Association for the 

 Protection of Game; The Hunters' Club 

 of Onondaga, and the Conservation 

 Committee of the General Federation of 

 Women's Clubs. To these should be 

 added the names of scores of local game- 

 protective clubs, women's clubs, and 

 other organizations. At least five of the 

 organizations named have issued printed 

 appeals, which have been distributed 

 widely, calling upon the citizens of the 

 state to request their Representatives 

 and Senators to vote against the Levy 

 Bill. As a consequence, thousands of 

 letters and telegrams of protest have 

 poured into Albany. Over a month ago, 

 one Assemblyman wrote to a member of 

 the Audubon Society that he had received 

 over two hundred letters from his consti- 

 tuents, asking him to use his influence 

 against the Levy Bill. 



The public press of the state is evidently 

 in entire accord with the contention of the 

 Audubon Society, and the sentiment pre- 

 vailing is well expressed in the title of an 

 editorial appearing in the " Rochester 

 (New York) Union" for April 29, "The 

 Milliners vs. The People." On the other 

 hand, certain large interests in New York 

 City, which are more interested in exploit- 

 ing birds commercially than in protecting 

 them, have, by means of letters, paid 

 articles for the newspapers, and by repre- 

 sentatives sent to ^AJbanj^ sought to show 



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