The Audubon Societies 



77 



The plans of the Association include a 

 cooperation with the various game com- 

 missions of the country to secure a more 

 vigorous enforcement of game laws; to 

 stand back of wardens who have gotten 

 into trouble through fearless obedience to 

 duty; to create among the wardens and 

 others whose duty it is entorce the law the 

 spirit of emulation and pride in their 

 profession, and to give gold and bronze 

 medals for meritorious service. 



It believes in game refuges of all char- 

 acters, and in the natural and artificial 

 propagation of game. It desires to see 

 reasonable and uniform game-restrictive 

 laws enacted by the Legislatures in many 

 states of the union wherein they do not 

 now exist. It proposes, also, to expend 

 funds in the actual enforcement of game 

 laws by means of special agents emploj-ed 

 for the purpose. It declares for laws 

 providing a bag limit for game, absolute 

 protection to insectivorous birds, pro- 

 hibiting the sale of wild native game, and 

 other measures calculated to protect and 

 conserve the supply of American game- 

 birds and animals. 



The Association, while founded and 

 heavily backed financially by the manu- 

 facturers of firearms and ammunition, 

 also makes an appeal for people interested 

 in this work to become associate mem- 

 bers. There is a Board of eleven directors 

 and twenty-two "honorary &nd advisory 

 members," — the latter including the 

 names of many men who are prominent 

 in game protective work. 



The president and executive ofiicer is 

 Mr. John B. Burnham, who, for many 

 years, was connected with the Forest, 

 Fish and Game Commission of the state 

 of New York. Mr. Burnham is a practical 

 game protector, and a man whose person- 

 ality has made a forceful impression on the 

 people of the state. We predict that he 

 will give a good account of himself in his 

 new position. 



In many respects, this new Associa- 

 tion stands for objects for which the 

 National Association of Audubon Socie- 

 ties has been fighting for years, and we 

 welcome it to the fields of endeavor for 



the preservation of our wild bird and 

 animal life.— T. G. P. 



Some Audubon Workers 

 IV. GEORGE BIRD QRINNELL 



It was Mr. George Bird Grinnell who 

 created the name "Audubon Society." 

 This was over twenty-five years ago. It 

 is easy to understand why the name and 

 the ideals for which the Society stands 

 came to be created in his mind, when one 

 learns of the interesting environment of 

 his youth, and the spirit for the preser- 

 vation of wild life which has ever possessed 

 and molded his activities. 



Mr. Grinnell was born in Brooklyn, 

 N. Y., September 20, 1849. When a very 

 small boy, his parents moved to Audubon 

 Park, New York City, which had formerly 

 been the estate of John James Audubon, 

 the artist-naturalist, and here for more 

 than fifty years Mr. Grinnell lived in the 

 same house, among scenes, almost un- 

 changed, which had surrounded the great 

 ornithologist during the last years of his 

 life. 



Madame Audubon, the widow of the 

 naturalist, and her two sons and their 

 families, occupied two of the houses on 

 this estate, and in one of these Madame 

 Audubon conducted a school for small 

 children, which Mr. Grinnell attended. 



He has told us something of the con- 

 ditions of this early boyhood life. The 

 walls of the Audubon home were decorated 

 with antlers, from which hung guns, shot- 

 pouches and powder-flasks. Portraits and 

 paintings of birds and mammals, done by 

 the naturalist and his sons, were seen 

 every where. The loft of John Woodhouse 

 Audubon's barn, where the boys often 

 played, contained great stacks of the old 

 red muslin-bound copies of the Ornitholog- 

 ical Biographies, while against the walls 

 were piled boxes of bird skins brought 

 back by the naturalist from his various 

 expeditions. John W. Audubon was con- 

 stantly receiving boxes of specimens from 

 distant parts of the continent, and often 

 when he opened these shipments, he was 

 surrounded by a group of small boys, 



