420 Bird - Lore 



REPORT OF KATHARINE H. STUART, 

 FIELD AGENT FOR VIRGINIA 



During the past year, my time has been fully occupied in many and varied 

 activities in the interest of bird conservation for the state and nation. The 

 Junior Audubon work has been my first thought, and every energy possible 

 bent in that direction. Our teachers have been most active in the past year. 

 One hundred and twelve Junior Audubon Classes were formed, with a member- 

 sh'p of 1,865. Most of these classes were in new fields, and thus our work 

 has enlarged. I visited Winchester, Berryville, Culpepper, Harrisonburg, 

 Round Hill, Herndon, and many other places, where good results followed 

 my illustrated talks before schools and clubs, etc. We had a splendid meeting 

 in Berryville, where I was introduced by State Senator J. S. Blackburn Smith, 

 who made a strong appeal for the birds. On this occasion, I presented Mr. 

 Smith with a picture of the Robin in the name of the National Association, 

 as a mark of appreciation for his defense of the Redbreast before the Virginia 

 Senate. After the resignation of Mr. J. D. Eggleston, Superintendent of 

 Public Instruction, I went at once to Richmond, to call on his successor, 

 Mr. R. C. Stearnes, and secure from him the same endorsement for our Junior 

 Audubon work. Mr. Stearnes expressed his hearty sympathy and gave us 

 a fine letter to the school superintendents, teachers and principals. In Decem- 

 ber, at the annual meeting of the Women's National Rivers and Harbors 

 Congress, as Vice-President of that organization, I offered a resolution which 

 was unanimously adopted in favor of active work by the forty-five state pres- 

 idents, for the McLean Bill to protect migratory birds. This organization 

 did splendid work before the Senate and House Committees, through our 

 Legislative Chairman, Mrs. L. A. Williams, Forest Service, Washington, D.C. 

 Each state president wrote many letters to their respective senators and repre- 

 sentatives, urging their vote for the passage of this important bill. Our Presi- 

 dent, Mrs. Joseph Strout, of Portland, Maine, was also most active as Chair- 

 man of Legislation Maine Federation of Women's Clubs, with her senators 

 and representatives, having a backing of not less than eight or ten thousand 

 women, working in favor of the McLean amendment. 



For the first time in the history of our Junior Audubon Classes, I called 

 for reports of work done in the schools. About fifty teachers responded, all 

 writing of the great interest the Junior members took in their drawings and 

 making of bird-boxes. Feeding-tables, Christmas trees, and suet hung under 

 wire netting, afforded fine opportunities to study the birds at close range 

 during the winter months, and all have promised to take up this department 

 again during the coming year. Virginia Bird Day, May 4, the birthday of 

 John James Audubon, was generally observed in the state, and a good program 

 sent to the Virginia "Journal of Education" by the Audubon Society. 



While in Richmond, last November, at the Teachers' Conference, I visited 



