6o Bird- Lore 



in field work with a view to making verbal reports or reading formal papers 

 at the meetings. Possible publication of these in ' The Auk ' was held up 

 as an inducement to greater zeal. 



Actives must reside within twenty-five miles of Philadelphia. Meetings 

 are now regularly held in the ornithological room of the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences, at 8 P. M., on the first and third Thursdays of each month, from 

 October to May, inclusive. 



Visitors of the male sex may attend any of our meetings on invitation of 

 a member. It was at one time debated that a form of honorary lady mem- 

 bership should be instituted, but the establishment of Audubon and other 

 societies about that time seemed to cover the ground so well that no action 

 in this matter is ever likely to be taken. 



A corresponding membership was instituted later and has been proved of 

 value to all concerned. At present writing there are 15 actives, i honorary 

 (Dr. Samuel W. Woodhouse), 55 associates and 29 correspondents in good 

 standing on the roll. Of these an average of twenty to twenty-five attend 

 meetings with great regularity. Any one versed in the ephemeral or 

 fossilized nature of natural history societies and kindred associations 

 may well inquire what are the secrets of the success of the D. V. O. C. 

 as above indicated. In order of importance these may be listed as fol- 

 lows: 



1. An executive and philanthropic member (not necessarily an officer), 

 whose specialty is ornithology and whose whole time is devoted to that 

 pursuit, combining with his business duties in this line the interests of 

 the Club. 



2. Official recognition by the Academy of Natural Sciences, which 

 furnishes accommodation for private and public meetings and the Club 

 collections; also the use of specimens illustrative of the exercises of the 

 meetings. 



3. The Club collection of life-grouping of birds of the Delaware Valley, 

 taken and prepared by Club members and assigned a separate space for 

 exhibition in the Museum of the Academy. 



4. A membership, based primarily on continued accessions of amateurs 

 and so graded as to incite all to effort. 



5. A periodical Club publication of proceedings in which all trans- 

 actions worthy of record not elsewhere published are preserved. 



6. Stimulation to original work, among young and old, of such a 

 character as will merit publication in current zoological literature. 



7. Publication of an annotated list of the birds of Eastern Pennsyl- 

 vania and New Jersey, based primarily on field work prosecuted syste- 

 matically by club members. 



8. A programme which announces two or more exercises specially 

 prepared for each stated meeting of the club. These, as a rule, are to 



