Reports of State Societies and Bird Clubs 459 



information showing how to attract and care for the bird, but also by a stricter 

 enforcement of the laws enacted for its protection. 



The various details of our Club's work the past year may be briefly enu- 

 merated as follows: An illustrated lecture was delivered in the early spring 

 to the members of the Club by Ernest Harold Baynes, and later in the season 

 this was repeated for the information and benefit of the public-school children 

 of Oyster Bay. Prizes were offered the school-children for the construction of 

 the best bird-houses, the most satisfactory photographs taken by any child 

 of a wild bird that had been tamed, and the best essays upon the life and pro- 

 tection of birds. 



The Executive Committee was represented at the Mineola Fair, held in 

 the fall. It distributed notices and membership-forms, and explained the 

 aims and purposes of the Bird Club to several hundred persons. Bulletins 

 were also sold and many membership-fees obtained. The Executive Committee 

 during the previous season sent to all the members a pamphlet issued by the 

 National Association, containing directions for the care of birds and instruc- 

 tions as to the making and placing of shelters and nesting-boxes, with valuable 

 information concerning the best shrubs and trees to plant to attract birds. 

 Enamel and linen signs were distributed for posting on trees and fences, 

 stating in English and Italian that to molest birds or nests rendered 

 the offender liable to prosecution by the Bird Club. In addition, a printed 

 card was forwarded to every member, containing suggestions for the winter 

 feeding of wild birds and the best foods for such varieties as do not migrate. 

 Members were also supplied with a list of the game-wardens of Long Island 

 and the address of each, and requesting that any viola,tion of the law be at 

 once reported to the Division Chief, at 145 1 Broadway, New York City. 



A very important feature of the efficient service rendered by our Executive 

 Committee was obtained through the interest and cooperation of Dr. James 

 S. Cooley and Mr. W. C. Mepham, District Superintendents of the Public 

 Schools of Nassau County, as, under an arrangement with the National 

 Association of Audubon Societies, every school contributing $1 to the Bird 

 Club became a unit member, and by the payment of this amount to the Audu- 

 bon Society received from it such printed matter as might be issued during 

 the year, together with a series of leaflets, pictures of bird-life, and other 

 material for use in school-work, this being furnished in addition to such other 

 information as the Club itself might send out. Every school was also pre- 

 sented, through the generosity of one of the members of the committee, with 

 a copy of a book entitled, 'Birds Every Child Should Know,' a publication 

 that particularly appeals to children and is of great use in familiarizing a 

 child with the Long Island birds, and in creating also an impression of the 

 attraction birds give by their presence in the woods and around the home. 



It is interesting to note that the list of public schools enrolled as unit mem- 

 bers shows a total attendance of nearly 2,000 pupils, and for these and others 



