356 Bird -Lore 



The Educational Committee. — This committee has charge of such educa- 

 tional work as we are enabled to do. Our club believes that the greatest work 

 which it can perform is the arousing the interest of children in birds. We try 

 to do this by giving talks before schools and by the delivery of illustrated 

 lectures. This work we feel sure is but in its infancy. 



The Protection Committee. — This committee has charge of all work con- 

 nected with bird protection. Thus far its principal work has been in appearing 

 before the Fish and Game Committee of the Legislature, in connection with 

 proposed bills afifecting bird life. 



The Permanent Records Committee. — The members of this committee are 

 the presidents of the club, past and present. The chairman is Mr. John H. 

 Sage, Treasurer of the A. O. U. It is the duty of this committee to pass upon 

 all doubtful identifications before they are admitted to the records of the club. 



The meetings of the club fall into three classes: 'Field Meetings,' 'Regular 

 Meetings,' and 'Lectures,' and are held throughout the year, except during 

 July and August. 



Field Meetings. — These meetings are held on Saturday afternoons, aver- 

 aging two a month from September to June inclusive. During the migration 

 season they are held every week. The attendance is governed naturally by 

 the state of the weather, and perhaps to an equal extent by the length of the 

 walk which it is proposed to take. The largest number in attendance in 1914 

 was about eighty, the average being about forty. The walks vary from about 

 two and a half miles to about seven miles, averaging probably about four 

 miles. On some of these tramps the entire company keep to our general route, 

 while on other occasions, depending upon the nature of the country covered, 

 we divide into small groups each supposed to be guided by an expert in bird- 

 lore. When the club is so divided, each group keeps its own list of birds ob- 

 served, and of course there is a spirited competition on those occasions. 



In addition to the stated field meetings, there are a number of extra meet- 

 ings, usually of an impromptu nature, and caused by the discovery somewhere 

 in the territory of a rare bird. Such occasions arose this year upon the discovery 

 of a Migrant Shrike, which remained several weeks in the same vicinity, and 

 upon the finding of a nest of the Great Horned Owl in which were two young. 

 This was about three miles from the nearest trolley, but a very large number 

 of the club went to see it. The most interesting incident of this character 

 was the sighting of a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers about five miles from 

 Hartford. The discovery was made by two young men who were not members 

 of the club, but we very soon got wind of it, and forthwith there was a migration 

 of the club, in pairs, squads and battalions, to the east slope of the Talcott 

 Mountain. We found that the Woodpeckers had been haunting the place for 

 several years, for there were many mounds on the living trees, which were 

 nearly grown over by new wood. Of course, not all the pilgrims were successful 

 in sighting the birds. One unfortunate group tackled the job in an automobile, 



