2 I 6 Notes and News. [£$. 



Boston. The petition was endorsed by Dr. L. O. Howard. Wm. Brewster, 

 Dr. Vernon, E. H. Forbush, John Burroughs, Prof. C. H. Fernald, Messrs. 

 Palmer and Beal, and others widely known to ornithology and kindred 

 sciences. 



The mayor (the Hon. Josiah Quincy) promptly ordered the reductions 

 to be begun under the supervisors and general directions of the Com- 

 mittee organized by the American Society of Bird-Restorers. 



The methods to be first tried are : Egg-destruction by the destruc- 

 tion of nests in the breeding season, and trapping by methods carefully 

 studied and thus far proved effective. Many other methods are thought 

 of and may be ultimately used. If successful in Boston, Sparrow reduc- 

 tion is likely to spread all over the country. 



Information about this work and all other work of the American 

 Society of Bird-Restorers will be gladly furnished on applications to 

 Fletcher Osgood, General Manager, Boston, Mass. 



The second annual meeting of the Audubon Society of the State of 

 New York was held in the lecture hall of the American Museum of Nat- 

 ural History on March 23, 1899. The program included a report on the 

 work of the year by Frank M. Chapman, chairman of the executive com- 

 mittee ; an address by Madame Lilli Lehmann, the famous interpreter 

 of Wagnerian roles; the presentation of letters from Dr. Henry van 

 Dyke and Governor Roosevelt endorsing the aims of the society; and an 

 exhibition by Prof. A. S. Bickmore of slides of birds and their nests re- 

 cently furnished by him to the normal schools of the State of New York. 



Mr. Chapman stated that over 40,000 leaflets treating of various phases 

 of the necessity for bird protection had been distributed by the society, 

 that the interest of the public in the subject was constantly increasing, 

 and that its field for usefulness was limited only by its available funds. 



Dr. van Dyke's letter expressed continued sympathy with the cause of 

 the society, and Governor Roosevelt wrote in the same vein and with the 

 evident sincerity of a genuine lover of birds. 



Madame Lehmann, who is prominently connected with bird protection 

 and humane societies of German}' and Austria, spoke earnestly of the 

 need of concerted action in awaking an interest in the work of preserving 

 birds, and urged the importance of nature studies in the schools. 



Professor Bickmore, curator of the American Museum's Department of 

 Public Instruction, exhibited a series of 100 slides representing the lead- 

 ing types of American birds and their nests from the Pygopodes to 

 Macrochires. The larger part of these pictures had been made directly 

 from nature, and they constitute by far the most interesting and valuable 

 set of the kind ever introduced into the schools of this country. 



Erratum. — In the January number, page 21, line 14 from top, for 

 true frog read tree frog. 



