TWENTY-FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT 49 



The constant overdrafts in the other funds of the Society 

 have to be met by appropriations from the General Income 

 Account, and even the Pension Fund is maintained only by the 

 contribution from the Income Account of $3,665 annually. 



This fund is now, and always has been, the weakest of all 

 the Society's accounts, because upon it falls the burden of 

 emergencies. Its pitifully small size cripples the activities of 

 the Society in its office force, and especially in the matter of 

 campaigning for new members. The Society needs at least 

 $2,000,000 in its General Endowment Fund, independently of 

 the Sage Endowment Fund, in order that it may have an income 

 sufficient to maintain its regular work. Even this amount would 

 leave only a narrow margin for the support of outside enterprises 

 or for the expansion of its scientific work, either in original re- 

 search work or in publications. 



The Executive Committee cannot urge too strongly upon 

 the members the importance of increasing the Endowment Fund 

 of the Society. It has been a disappointment to the Committee 

 to find the Society so often overlooked in the bequests of decedents 

 who have been more than generous in their contributions to sim- 

 ilar institutions, which have been longer in the field and conse- 

 quently have accumulated far larger funds. 



ANIMAL FUND. 



The amount to the credit of the Animal Fund at the end 

 of the year was $38,235.73. During the year, the Society donated 

 to the London Zoological Gardens a collection of birds and mam- 

 mals to help in the re-establishment of that institution, amounting 

 to 234 birds, representing 103 species, and 9 mammals. 



CADWALADER ANIMAL FUND. 



The balance on hand in this fund was $1,696.58. During 

 the year $1,248.95 were appropriated from this fund for the ex- 

 pense of shipping the gifts of the Society to London. 



STOKES BIRD FUND. 



The use of this fund is limited to the protection of bird life, 

 and the only expenditures made from it during the year was a 



