THE AUDUBON NOTE BOOK, 



MEMBERSHIP RETURNS. 



The registered membership of tlie Society on 

 Feb. 29, 1S88, was 44,308, showing an increase of 

 625 members during the month, drawn from the fol- 

 lowing sources: 



New York 166 Michigan 4 



Massachusetts 48 District of Columbia 4 



New Hampshire 13 Minnesota 8 



New Jersey 40 North Carolina 36 



Maine 38 Indiana 17 



Connecticut 4 Nebraska 6 



Pennsylvania 27 Wisconsin 4 



Maryland 3 Tennessee 5 



Kentucky 38 Georgia i 



Kansas 10 Florida 1 



Iowa 39 West Virginia 21 



Illinois 21 Canada 3 



Missouri 53 Bermuda 1 



Ohio 13 Mexico i 



625 

 C. F. Amery, General Secretary. 



SAVING THE TREE. 



Editor Audubon Magazine : 



One afternoon, about the middle of May, 1886, 

 while sitting at my desk, I chanced to look out of 

 my study window, and saw a Baltimore oriole {Icte- 

 rus galhula) hopping from branch to branch of an 

 ash-leaved maple tree. He was nipping off the 

 leaves and the ends of the new and tender branches 

 and dropping them upon the ground. My first 

 thought was that he was doing great damage to the 

 tree. In my boyhood's days I would have thrown a 

 stone at him. A moment's reflection, however, con- 

 vinced me that Baltimore would not so disgrace his 

 lordly colors. I laid down my pen and went out to 

 investigate. I found that in every case where a leaf 

 or a twig had been cut off, it was done to get at a 

 destroying larva, and that the bird was a faithful 

 surgeon using his instruments with unerring skill to 

 save the life of the tree. From that time my admir- 

 ation for the winged Lord Baltimore has steadily in- 

 creased. Wm. H. Tibbals. 

 Park College, 1888. 



A CROSSBILL IN MID-OCEAN. 



Editor Audubon Magazine: 



I received a few weeks ago a copy of your maga- 

 zine and took pleasure in it. I notice it speaks of 

 the high and extended flight of the crossbills. This 

 recalls an incident which interested me and may in- 

 terest your readers. A number of years ago, I think 

 it was the summer of 1870, I was coming across the 

 Atlantic in a sailing vessel — the barque Bounding 

 Billow. One day we were about in a line from New- 



foundland and the Azores, Newfoundland being 

 about 600 miles distant, the Azores somewhat nearer, 

 when a crossbill came on board the vessel. The pre- 

 vailing winds had been northwesterly, and this in 

 connection with the sort of bird it was led us to be- 

 lieve that it had come from Newfoundland. It must 

 have had a long flight in any case, and while it might 

 have rested on the way, it could scarcely have had 

 any food. As we tried to catch it it flew short flights 

 on the vessel, but would not leave, and we at last 

 caught it by the help, if I remember right, of the food 

 placed near a caged goldfinch we had on board. At 

 any rate it was caught and caged. It did not seem 

 wild but very hungry. It was a great pleasure to see 

 it eat and drink and rest. We brought it to New 

 York and there it was stolen from the vessel. 



Wallace E. Mather. 



Paris, Oneida County, N. Y. 



THE SPARROW CORRESPONDENCE. 



General Splnner's reprobation of the English 

 sparrow in his correspondence with Miss Lydia L. 

 A. Very, has called forth a host of protests which we 

 would gladly publish if they tended in any way to 

 settle the question at issue, but while it appears only 

 just to Miss Very to allow her an opportunity of foil- 

 ing the General's thrusts, we should only tire our 

 readers if we devoted our columns exclusively to the 

 discussion of this inexhaustible subject. 

 ■ Whether the English sparrow is or is not a desir- 

 able acquisition is a question about which there will 

 always be a difference of opinion, because it will 

 never be possible to determine the extent to which he 

 replaces American birds, but the friends of the sparrow 

 may listen to all the tirades against him, and to all 

 suggestion of measures for his destruction with the 

 most perfect complacency in the calm assurance that 

 the resources of the American people are inadequate 

 to his extermination. The English sparrow has come 

 to stay. Following is Miss Very's letter: 

 Gen. E. E. Spinner: 



Dear Sir — I thank you for your interesting and 

 amusing letter. You are mistaken in your supposi- 

 tion that I am one of those ladies who carry dainties, 

 flowers and misdirected sympathy to red-handed 

 murderers and other criminals in prison. I do not 

 belong to the roast turkey and plum pudding brigade, 

 but my sympathies are wholly with their victims. I 

 think punishment, to be effectual, should be punish- 

 ment. And now about the sparrow. You must al- 

 low me to speak plainly. I think you have been 

 guilty of a great cruelty in inciting boys to kill them. 



