The Audubon Societies 



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The second prize seems justly due to the 

 Junior Branch of the Wyncote Bird Club, 

 of Wyncote, Pennsylvania. Everyone will 

 admire the admirable posing and the 

 attitudes of eager interest exhibited by the 

 photograph reproduced on page 318. Ac- 

 companying it was a note from the Re- 

 cording Secretary, Miss Esther Heacock, 

 giving us the following information: 



"The Wyncote Bird Club was organized 

 in April, 1914, and its Junior Branch has 

 been one of the most successful depart- 

 ments. Meetings have usually been held 

 once a month on Saturday mornings, but 

 when the Club has a program interesting 

 to Juniors as well as to adults a joint-meet- 

 ing is held in the evening. The Junior 

 Membership fee is ten cents annually, so 

 that none may be debarred, but members 

 and non-members alike are welcomed at 

 the meetings, which have been attended 

 sometimes by more than forty children. 

 As they are of all ages, it seemed best to 

 divide them into groups and to supply 

 different kinds of work. The Junior Audu- 

 bon Leaflets have been invaluable. The 

 Club supplies these for work at the meet- 

 ings, but many members have become so 

 interested that they have bought the 

 entire set, and so are beginning their own 

 bird-libraries. The birds so studied and 

 colored have made indelible impressions 

 on the children's minds. 



"A carpentering department exists, 

 where feeding-devices of various kinds are 

 made — window-shelves, movable count- 

 ers on pulleys, automatic grain-feeders, 

 and nest-boxes — all of simple construc- 

 tion, so that the children can make similar 

 ones at home. One day many Wren- 

 houses were made out of discarded tin 

 cans. Once we had a demonstration of 

 tying suet to trees, and that afternoon 

 there was a good demand for suet at the 

 village butcher-shop ! A cash prize was 

 offered for the best nest-box made en- 

 tirely by any boy or girl. Great interest 

 was taken in this, and fifteen boxes were 

 entered, which were so well made that 

 two other prizes were given to reward the 

 careful and thorough work. 



"Some of the children have started bird- 

 records, and for the best one a prize was 

 given — a copy of Reed's 'Land Birds.' 

 Several contests have been held in identi- 

 fying birds from the Leaflet pictures, and 

 prizes were given for the best lists, the 

 prizes being the feeding-devices made at 

 the meeting. Next winter we plan to make 

 carved and painted birds for ornaments in 

 flower-gardens, which, it is believed, will 

 be very attractive hand-work for the 



youthful bird-lovers. In mild weather we 

 take walks to the woods, when the children 

 are taught how to look for and identify 

 birds, and these meetings are very popular. 

 "With the help that Bird-Lore and the 

 Audubon Leaflets afford, the work of con- 

 ducting a Junior Society is greatly dimin- 

 ished. We feel that in fifteen months the 

 cause of bird protection has in this village 

 made good progress, and that nothing will 

 strengthen it so much as implanting in the 

 child's mind the love of birds." 



Girls as Bird-Students 



The Third Prize ought to go, we think, 

 to the "Merrimac Girls," whose happy 

 faces smile at us on page 322. The young 

 president, who is seen in the group bear- 

 ing the club's pennant, has told us about 

 their very commendable activity in a 

 pleasant letter quoted below: 



"Our Junior Audubon Class was formed 

 by Miss Myra E. Worster, a teacher in the 

 Merrimac School, in May, 1914. The Class 

 had but two meetings when Miss Worster 

 resigned her position in Merrimac, and 

 authorized the president, Ruth Wood, who 

 was only ten years old, to take her place 

 in the class as local secretary and leader. 

 The membership was limited to girls, now 

 nineteen in number, and the name chosen 

 was, 'Merrimac Girls' Junior Audubon 

 Class. 



"Mrs. Wood, the mother of the presi- 

 dent, put a room in her house at the ser- 

 vice of the Class. This club-room was 

 arranged with bird-nests. Leaflet-pictures 

 bought with class-dues, and a bird-chart 

 and some large pictures. Meetings are 

 held every two weeks, when the president 

 gives a short talk on such subjects as 

 'Protective Coloring of Birds,' 'Economic 

 Value of Birds,' and 'Winter Birds and 

 Their Food.' Essays on various birds are 

 read by members, and debates are held. 

 One of the most interesting was a debate 

 on 'Should the Crow be Protected?' The 

 affiirmative side was declared the victor. 

 The surrounding country has high hills, 

 and much woodland, with large lakes and 

 the famous Merrimac River, and the Class 

 has taken many walks to study the many 

 varieties of wild birds living here. The 

 members of the Class invite their friends 

 on these trips so that the influence of the 

 Class is extended beyond its membership. 



"The Class decided to furnish a Christ- 

 mas treat for the winter birds, and the 

 members took suet and cranberries into the 

 woods, hanging these dainties on conven- 

 ient trees and scattering grain and crumbs 



