CHAPTER XVI 



WORK OF THE AUDUBON SOCIETIES 



THE preceding chapters have explained the work 

 done by the army of destruction in slaughtering 

 birds. The next few chapters will be devoted to the 

 much pleasanter task of explaining the work done 

 by the army of protection in trying to save our birds. 

 This army is constantly growing larger and has been 

 winning battle after battle of such decisive char- 

 acter that the outlook is now most promising that 

 this army will soon be entirely victorious. 



The first Audubon Society. The most active and 

 effective agents in the cause of bird-protection are 

 the Audubon Societies. The first society of this 

 name was organized in 1886 by Dr. George B. Grin- 

 nell, editor of "Forest and Stream." As the result 

 of an editorial written by Dr. Grinnell the idea of 

 forming such a society met with a ready response 

 and was endorsed by such men as Henry Ward 

 Beecher, John G. Whittier, Henry C. Potter, and 

 Oliver Wendell Holmes. By the end of the year, 

 the Audubon Society had sixteen thousand mem- 

 bers with over three hundred local secretaries scat- 

 tered throughout the United States and in foreign 

 countries. By August of the following year the 

 membership had reached thirty-eight thousand. 



