State Audubon Reports 467 



congressmen were besieged wilh letters and resolutions urging their support 

 of these bills, and it is a source of deep gratification to know that they stood 

 solid for the resolutions as finally adopted. While it is true that the Society 

 is responsible for this work in Rhode Island, it would have been impossible 

 to have done so much, or have done it so well, had it not been for the coopera- 

 tion of the Secretary of the National Association, of Doctor Hornaday, and 

 of Mr. E. H. Forbush, who kept us constantly in touch with the situation. 



The regular work of the Society may be divided into library work, Junior 

 work, and work for and among the active membership. Our library has always 

 done good work, but the record for the school year ending June 30 surpassed 

 our greatest expectations. Originally we had a number of traveling libraries, 

 each containing books which belonged to a particular set, the whole of which 

 the teacher had to take when she requested a library of a certain number. 

 She invariably received certain books which she could not use, but which 

 could have been used by some other teacher in a different locality or grade. 

 For the past two years all books have been merged into one big library, and 

 the teacher is allowed to select any fifteen for a loan of not exceeding three 

 months. This plan insures the use of all books, and there is also the ad- 

 vantage of the books being returned to the main library one or more times a 

 year. The Society pays expressage both ways. The record for the year shows 

 that the 478 books in the library have been used by 1,110 persons, with a 

 total circulation of 6,535. 



The Junior work has more than kept pace with that of the preceding year. 

 The record for the year is 51 Junior Classes and 2,100 Juniors. Much of the 

 work has been carried on in cooperation with the Park Museum, in connection 

 with its lecture and loan systems among the schools of the city and state. 



Each active member pays a yearly fee of one dollar, and at present the 

 experiment is being tried of giving the members an opportunity of getting 

 their money's worth. A program of eleven monthly meetings has been issued. 

 Seven of these are field trips, each in charge of a competent leader; one is the 

 annual business meeting; one, an indoor Christmas bird census meeting; 

 one, a lecture by Ernest Harold Baynes on ''Winter Feeding and Methods 

 of Attracting Birds;" and for one month there is a series of three lectures on 

 "How to Identify Birds," by Dr. Herbert E. Walter, President of the Society. 

 This plan is based on the theory that, while many persons will join the Society 

 for the good their money will do, there are many other persons who will join 

 if in return for their money they are given opportunity to gain some knowledge 

 of the birds. — H. L. Madison, Secretary. 



East Tennessee.— The fall of 191 2 found many of the members of this 

 Society in rather a quiescent state — willing "to sit steady in the boat" and 

 float with the stream. There were some few earnest, restless souls who chafed 

 at this seeming want of progress. They wanted to see things moving. 



