The Audubon Societies 



399 



the coast of his state; Mr. Howard II. 

 Cleaves, New York, spoke in detail of 

 his trip, the past summer, among the bird 

 colonies on the coast of South Carolina; 

 Miss Elizabeth W. Fisher, Secretary of 

 the Audubon Society of Pennsylvania, 

 told of the work, the past year, in that 

 state; Mrs. Mabel Osgood Wright dis- 

 cussed at length the subject of the de- 

 structiveness of cats to the wild-bird life 

 of the country. Her views on the subject 

 of taxing cats with an object of restricting 

 their number appeared to meet with a 

 hearty support of all present. 



Dr. J. A. Allen and Dr. George Bird 

 Grinnell were reelected members of the 

 Board of Directors. 



The activities of the Association, the 

 coming year, will be directed along the 

 same general lines as heretofore. It is 

 planned to take up one or two new fields 

 of endeavor, announcement of which 

 will probably be made later. 



The following ofiScers were elected: 

 Mr. William Dutcher, President; Dr. T. 

 S. Palmer, First Vice-President; Dr. F. A. 

 Lucas, Second Vice-President; T. Gilbert 

 Pearson, Secretary; Dr. Jonathan Dwight, 

 Jr., Treasurer. 



At its annual meeting, the Board of 

 Directors passed a resolution offering a 

 reward of $250 for the apprehension and 

 conviction of the man who killed Mr. 

 John C. Reinbold, a game-warden of New 

 Jersey, in the event that the man now 

 under arrest charged with such killing 

 should not prove to be the guilty party. — 

 T. Gilbert Pearson, Secretary. 



President William Dutcher 



Just before the annual meeting of the 

 Association on October 28, a typewritten 

 copy of the year's report was forwarded 

 to President William Dutcher, at his 

 home in Plainfield, New Jersey. 



It will be recalled that it is just three 

 years since the beginning of Mr. Dutcher's 

 illness. I think the following extract from 

 a letter received from Mrs. Dutcher will 

 be of interest to members: 



"I want to tell you that today Mr. 



Dutcher, with his cane as the only aid, 

 walked from the dinner-table, picked up 

 your report, opened it, and gave me to 

 understand that he wanted me to write 

 you how much he longed to be at the 

 meeting today. If his speech had been 

 restored to him, he certainly would have 

 been with you, for I intended to take him 

 to the meeting by automobile. He is 

 pleased beyond measure at the progress 

 the Association is making. On reading 

 your report to him, his enthusiasm was 

 intense."— T. G. P. 



The New Feather Law 



The new Tariff Act which went into 

 effect October 3, and which prohibits the 

 importation into this country of the 

 feathers of wild birds, is apparently being 

 enforced rigidly. For several weeks the 

 New York daily papers have contained 

 many articles regarding the words and 

 actions of indignant ladies who found it 

 necessary to give up their aigrettes, para- 

 dise plumes and other feathers, upon 

 arriving from Europe. 



At this writing, the customs officers 

 have advised this office that they have 

 received positive instructions from the 

 Treasury Department in Washington to 

 allow none of the prohibited feathers to 

 enter the country under any circumstances. 

 People bringing in prohibited plumage 

 are being given the privilege of surrender- 

 ing them to the officers of the port, who 

 destroy them, or to export them immedia- 

 ately from the country. 



There is little doubt but what the cries 

 of resentment and opposition raised by 

 the distressed ladies along our New York 

 water front will be quickly heard abroad, 

 and it wiU surely deter other women from 

 attempting to wear birds' feathers to this 

 country. In no better way could we adver- 

 tise to the world the fact that the United 

 States is now the leader in the matter of 

 wild-bird protection, and that the time 

 has come when the barbarous traffic in 

 the feathers of wild birds shall no longer 

 receive legislative sanction and encourage- 

 ment in this country. 



