Reports of Field Agents 501 



Societies very kindly donated $25, but too late to announce new prizes and 

 give the contest that element of excitement that the larger prizes would have 

 aliforded. It is sufficient to say that results have proved the contest a highly 

 valuable means of directing public attention toward Audubon work, and that 

 at this early date teachers are requesting that a similar contest be arranged 

 next year. The Columbus boy who saved forty pounds of seeds had the prize 

 in mind, of course, but he never got away from that undercurrent of thought 

 that he was saving the seeds to feed to the wild birds this winter. A complete 

 report of the contest may be found in the October issue of Blue-Bird. 



SPECIAL WORK IN FLORIDA 



Knowing that Florida has ten National Bird-Reserves and is the home of 

 one of the most active State Audubon Societies, I was under the impression, 

 when engaged last winter to do Audubon work there, that the people of the 

 state were familiar with the aims and purposes of the Society, and needed 

 only to be reminded and urged a little to become active in the interests of their 

 own wuld birds. At the close of the first week of my engagement there, I had 

 to reconstruct this notion. Again and again I found it necessary to explain 

 the purposes of the Audubon Society. In four-fifths of the places visited I 

 turned entirely new soil, and, I hope, sowed seed some of which escaped the 

 barren places. This is in no sense a criticism of the previous efforts of the officers 

 and other workers in the Audubon Society, for Florida is a big state, and much 

 remains to be done. 



During the early part of December, I met with some success; but after 

 the i8th of the month Santa Claus side-tracked my efforts completely. With 

 the coming of New Year came the flood of tourists, the concert-singers, and 

 the Chatauquans, and my lecture-appointments, arranged by the Florida 

 Audubon Society, often conflicted with other entertainments. 



In nearly every town or city visited, I succeeded in getting into the news- 

 papers not only announcements and reports of meetings, but short articles of 

 an educational nature. The editors were uniformally courteous and generous 

 of space. At all the public meetings my talks were received with interest; 

 but my appeal for financial assistance, to support either the Florida Society or 

 the National Association, met with disappointment. 



Nearly all the schools received me cordially and made promises to form 

 Junior Classes; but had I not followed up these visits with urgent letters, 

 often three and four letters to each teacher, my efforts to have Junior Classes 

 organized would have fallen far short of the actual resvdt. 



To give an idea of what I attempted and the methods used, I will relate 

 the proceedings of an ordinary day. As soon as the public school had assem- 

 bled, I presented myself to the superintendent, explained my work, and asked 

 permission to talk to the classes separately. Almost invariably this was 



