c8 Fourth Meeting of the American Ornithologists' Union. [January 



The reports of Committees proved of special interest, and 

 showed commendable activity on the part of their members. The 

 chairman of the Committee on the Protection of North American 

 Birds, Mr. George B. Sennett, gave a detailed and carefully pre- 

 pared report on the work of this committee, which has held, 

 during the year, twenty meetings at which a quorum was pres- 

 ent for the transaction of business, beside;- several informal ses- 

 sions. The committee had endeavored to awaken public interest 

 in behalf of the birds, by giving information as to the extent of 

 their destruction for millinery and other needless purposes ; be- 

 lieving that a proper public presentation of these facts would go 

 far toward checking this great evil. It has also drafted what 

 it deems a suitable law for the protection of song and non-game 

 birds, the enactment of which in the various States it not only 

 recommends, but which it is taking measures to secure. The 

 proposed law has been practically adopted by the State of New- 

 York, and seems likely to meet with favor among legislators in 

 other States. They have published two 'Bulletins.' one of sixteen 

 quarto pages, the other of eight, large editions of which have 

 been gratuitously circulated, and of which copies may be obtained 

 on application to members of the committee. Notwithstanding 

 the considerable outlay of money involved, the committee, by the 

 aid of a few outside contributions, had met all the expenses 

 incurred, and bad no indebtedness to report to the Union. It 

 has been greatly aided in its work by the -Science' and -For- 

 est and Stream' Publishing Companies, these journals having 

 been, respectivelv, the mediums of the original publication of 

 the 'Bulletins,' which were later issued in pamphlet form in 

 large editions. 



The Audubon Society, an outgrowth of the Committee's 

 work, proves a most efficient co-worker. Under the fostering 

 care of the 'Forest and Stream,' this society already numbers 

 some 16,000 members, with over 300 local secretaries, scattered 

 throughout the United States and in various foreign countries. A 

 special report of the work of the Audubon Society, from Dr. 

 George B. Grinnell, to whose efforts the Society owes its exist- 

 ence and success, was included in the report of the committee. 

 The committee also acknowledged the important aid it had re- 

 ceived from the American Humane Association which, through 

 its President, the Rev. G. E. Gordon, had given it very valuable 



