10 Massachusetts Audubon Society 



him no more to know him, but we passed the winter with the keenest antici- 

 pation and the hope that the spring of 1917 would bring him back to us 

 again. 



The robins arrived late again in Ashmont this spring. We were about 

 despairing of their ever coming, probably because of our supreme interest 

 in them this year. Finally, in the early morning of the 21st day of March, 

 1917, the song notes of the first robin penetrated our open chamber 

 windows. It was our own Robin Caruso that had been the first one to 

 greet us. 



He evidently intends to stay with us this year. He sings as much as 

 ever. His voice is still readily distinguishable from the voice of all the 

 other robins that sing for us. There have been some changes in his reper- 

 tory, but it is yet his very own. 



Yours truly, 

 (Signed) Alfred H. McCulloch. 



THE ANNUAL MASS MEETING 



On Saturday afternoon, April 21st at 2 o'clock, more than three thousand 

 people gathered at Tremont Temple, Boston, to attend the annual mass meet- 

 ing of the Massachusetts Audubon Society. It is probable that no gathering 

 of such a size has ever before occurred in the interests of bird study and bird 

 protection. Certainly no larger audience was ever seen in Tremont Temple 

 which is noted for the size of its mass meetings. The meeting was opened 

 promptly by Mr. Edward Howe Forbush, President of the Society. Mr. 

 Forbush announced that the British Government has just passed as a war 

 measure a law, forbidding as long as the war lasts, the importation of the 

 plumage of wild birds. He suggested that similar measures for the pro- 

 tection of birds should be enforced in this country. One of the most valuable 

 of these measures is the Treaty between this country and Great Britain which 

 protects the migratory birds of this country and Canada with equal laws. 

 This treaty has been passed and signed, but in order to give it force it will 

 be necessary that the enabling act should pass. This failed of passage be- 

 cause of the war, but has again in better form been brought before Congress. 

 Secretary Packard made a brief report of the workings of the Society during 

 the past year and urged very strongly the economic value of bird protection 

 as a force in bringing the present war to a successful conclusion. 



Mr. Charles Crawford Gorst described his adventures in snaring bird 

 songs, illustrating his very able lecture with lantern slides and giving 

 whistling imitations of the songs of the birds. With the music of the Euro- 

 pean Nightingale, given on the phonograph, he compared the song of the 

 American Mockingbird, showing on the whole the superiority of the latter. 

 This was the first time that this comparison has ever been given before any 

 audience. 



