^"'ig^^^^J Notes and News. 1 27 



A CONFERENCE of Audubon Society delegates, representing nine Socie- 

 ties, was held in Cambridge, Mass., on the afternoon of Nov. 15, 1900, 

 in conjunction with the A. O. U. Congress, the whole day being devoted 

 to the subject of Bird Protection. The morning session of the A. O. U. 

 was wholly occupied with the annual i-eport of the A. O. U. Committee 

 for the Protection of Birds, a general report on the work of the Committee 

 being made by its Chairman, Mr. Witmer Stone, followed by special 

 reports by Mr. William Dutcher on the protection of Gulls and Terns 

 through aid of the Thayer Fund, and by Dr. T. S. Palmer on the legal 

 aspects of the subject, with special reference to the Lacey Act, its pro- 

 visions and scope. The Stone and Dutcher reports are given in full in 

 the present number of this journal. We regret that Dr. Palmer's very 

 interesting and encouraging report of what has already been accom- 

 plished through the enforcement of the Lacey Act for the suppression 

 of traffic in the skins and plumage of birds for millinery purposes cannot 

 be given with equal fulness. At the conclusion of these reports the 

 Union adjourned, to enable its members to attend the Conference of 

 Audubon Societies. 



The Conference was opened by an introductory address by Dr. C. S. 

 Minot ; Mr. Ralph Hoffmann spoke of the desirability of cooperation on 

 the part of the several societies, and of federation to secure greater unity 

 of action; Mrs. Mabel Osgood Wright, President of the Connecticut 

 Society, gave an account of the method adopted by this Society to 

 awaken interest in bird protection, namely, the preparation of a series of 

 traveling lectures, accompanied by series of finely colored lantern slides, 

 and a lantern ; the cost of furnishing such means of instruction the 

 Society had found to be a most satisfactory investment. In explanation 

 of their character and purpose, Mrs. Wright read the lecture entitled ' The 

 Birds About Home,' illustrated with seventy colored slides. Mr. Frank 

 M. Chapman, in speaking on ' What Can we do for Our Members,' 

 referred to the remarkable success that had attended the introduction of 

 bird-study into the Chautauqua course, under the direction of Mrs. 

 Florence Merriam Bailey, and urged that the Audubon Societies organize 

 similar classes as a prominent feature of their work. Miss Justice of the 

 Pennsylvania Societv reported that this method had already been tried in 

 that State with excellent results. Dr. T. S. Palmer of the District of 

 Columbia Society gave an account of the methods employed by that 

 Society to provide teachers trained for nature-study work. Finally a 

 Committee was appointed to formulate plans for the federation of the 

 Audubon Societies, and the Conference adjourned to meet in New York 

 City in 1901, during the Congress of the A. O. U. to be held there in 

 the second week of November. 



The Conference brought out the evident fact that the lines of greatest 

 usefulness for the Audubon Societies are not emotional or sentimental 

 but educational and practical, — to make known the value of birds to man, 

 and to perfect legal measures for their protection. 



