Reports of State Societies and Bird Clubs 461 



Brookline (Mass.) Bird Club. — The third annual report of our Club is 

 one of progress and encouragement along the lines originally planned at the 

 founding of the Club. For adults we have lectures, Round-Table talks and 

 field-walks. For Juniors, field-walks and lectures. We do field-work in co- 

 operation with the Brookline Forestry Department, and maintain an active 

 interest in legislation. Meetings are held twice a month in the Club's room at 

 the Public [Library. One meeting is of a formal character, at which a well- 

 known ornithologist lectures on some phase of bird-study, illustrated with 

 lantern-slides. The other is very informal, and consists of a talk by the person 

 in charge of the meeting, followed by an open discussion and questions. The 

 latter is perhaps the more popular of the two, and is called a 'Round-Table' 

 talk. The fact that opportunity is given for the relating of personal expe- 

 riences and acquaintance-making appeals strongly to those who attend. The 

 Club has been addressed by Winthrop Packard, Edward H. Forbush, Walt 

 McMahon, Charles C. Gorst, and others. These lectures are well attended, 

 and some have proved of such interest that they will be repeated this winter. 



The field-walks attract so many enthusiasts that two separate ones are 

 conducted on Saturday afternoons during the spring and summer. One is 

 taken near at home and the other some distance away, thus allowing them to 

 be handled properly. The opportunities presented in this way for practical 

 field-study are so good that the walks are now a feature of the club-work. 

 The Junior members cause considerable study. So many outside interests 

 claim the children's time on Saturday that the Junior walks have not been all 

 the directors hoped they would be. Mr. Horace Taylor, who has charge of this 

 department, has lectured in the grammar schools and led the walks, and the 

 expense has been met from the Club's funds. 



A word about the activity of the Brookline Forestry Department is neces- 

 sary to explain what the town is accomplishing through this department in its 

 work for the birds with the cooperation of the Brookline Bird Club. During 

 the past winter more than a hundred feeding-stations were maintained. One 

 man was kept busy every day in the week traveling from station to station 

 replenishing the food and removing the snow. A large number of Partridges, 

 Pheasants, and Quails, as well as song-birds, lived through the winter that 

 otherwise would have perished. It is a fact that more birds have been seen 

 this past winter than have been seen for years about the town. Those that 

 came regularly to the feeding-stations lost their shyness after a short time, and 

 were always on hand for a meal when the 'food-man' arrived. After a snow- 

 storm at night the birds dug through the snow in the morning to get at the 

 grain that was covered over, and by the time the man arrived the station looked 

 like a chicken-yard. This spring more than 300 nesting-boxes of various types, 

 made by the Forestry Department, were placed in proper places about the 

 town. Useful birds have occupied some of them. Since the closing of the town 

 to gunners the law has been well observed, but, of course, illegal shooting goes 



