Reports of Field Agents 4Q9 



great chance for the boys to study bird-life and tree-life at the same time. I 

 have given many talks on forestry before our schools, aided by lantern- 

 slides; and our club-women have worked hard for this goal. Our children have 

 put up hundreds of bird-boxes and feeding-tables all over the state, and the 

 increase of our song and insectivorous birds is perceptible. 



I close with two very interesting discoveries. That the founders of this 

 great republic knew the value of birds and loved them, is shown from the fact 

 that one finds at Monticello, the home of Jefferson, at Stratford, the home of 

 the Lees, at Brandon, the home of the Harrisons, and in Williamsburg, and many 

 other places, bird-boxes that in many instances are two hundred years old. 

 Their shapes vary, and also their colors. I hope, in time, to get pictures and 

 data that will reveal more of their history. It would be interesting to hear 

 whether there are such ancient bird-homes anywhere north or south of Vir- 

 ginia, and I should like to get pictures of them. 



The other discovery is that the first monument to birds was erected in 

 Alexandria. It is not so lordly as the one recently erected to the Gulls in Salt 

 Lake City, but is very simple, representing the last penny the Blytle family 

 had to show their devotion to their "feathered brothers." The stone is about 

 one yard square, and lies directly under a box-bush. On one side a place is 

 left open, to put in all the birds found dead or that died in the home or yard 

 of this family. The inscription reads thus: "In memory of the dear little 

 loved ones; for here we have no continuing city, but seek one to come, whose 

 builder and maker is God. — Hebrews 13-14." On the tomb of the head of 

 the family was a marble bowl, kept full of water, and daily visits were made 

 to the cemetery where food was placed for the birds. All of this family have 

 passed away, but those who recall them tell of the number of wild birds they 

 fed in their old garden, and how tenderly they cared for them all the time; and 

 so we find that this humane work is quite old in historic Alexandria, and that 

 the first bird-protective society was founded by the Blytle family many years 

 before the National Association came into existence. 



REPORT OF EUGENE SWOPE, FIELD AGENT FOR OHIO 



All of the bright prospects foreseen at the time your Agent reported last 

 year have been realized in Ohio, and much more besides. The progressive 

 Audubon idea is permeating the state with a surprising rapidity. The number 

 of Junior Audubon Classes was increased notwithstanding your Agent's 

 absence of four months from the state, just at the time when this work needed 

 his special attention. An increasing readiness appears on the part of Ohio 

 newspapers to publish material relative to Audubon interests. A new branch 

 of the Audubon Society has been formed at Columbus, which is taking up all 

 progressive methods, and it bids fair to be one of the leading influences in bird- 

 conservation in the Middle West. A Bird Protective Association is now being 



