The Aububon Societies 



103 



society, on the general work of the Au- 

 dubon societies. 



The society has distributed nearly 7,000 

 leaflets and circulars, several of them hav- 

 ing been procured of the United States 

 government, through the kindness of our 

 members of Congress. 



An additional circular has recently been 

 issued in which prizes are offered to the 

 school children of New Hampshire on the 

 following conditions : Two prizes, one of 

 ten dollars and one of five dollars to chil- 

 dren over twelve and under seventeen 

 years of age ; and two more, one of five 

 dollars and one of three dollars to children 

 under twelve years of age. These prizes 

 are to be awarded for the best composi- 

 tions on 'Birds,' the compositions to be 

 written as the result of personal observa- 

 tion, the contest to close January i, 1900. 



The society has adopted the bird chart 

 lately published by the Massachusetts 

 Society, and is introducing it as rapidly as 

 possible into the schools of the state. 

 Annie V. B.^tchkldek, Scc'v. 



A Message from Madame Lehmann 



At the second annual meeting of the 

 New York State Audubon Society, Mad- 

 ame Lilli Lehmann, whose love of ani- 

 mals is perhaps even greater than her 

 love of music, made an eloquent appeal 

 to women to cease from feather-wearing, 

 which she characterized as a form of bar- 

 barism, and to aid the Audubon Societies 

 in their efforts to protect the birds. 



Through the editor of Bird-Lore, she 

 sends to the Audubon Societies the fol- 

 lowing message, the tenor of which, it 

 will be noticed, is in close accord with 

 the views of the editor of this Depart- 

 ment, as expressed in the last issue of 

 this Journal.— F. M. C. 



Madame Lehmann writes: "Tell the 

 Societies that I take the greatest interest 

 in their work, that I do everything I can, 

 and every minute, if the occasion offers, 

 to protect the birds. 



"Tell them, also, that it is the duty of 

 everyone to sfeak and to do something 

 every day for the cause ; that it is not 



sufficient to give a dollar or two — that 

 alone will never help us. It is the living 

 word, the reasons given, the good ex- 

 ample and the teaching to everyone that 

 can bring us further in civilization." 



Two New Audubon Societies 



We announce with pleasure the forma- 

 tion of Audubon Societies in Texas and 

 in California. The Texas Society was 

 organized on March 4, at Galveston, with 

 Miss Cecile Seixas as secretary. The 

 organization of the California Society was 

 lately completed at Kedland, with Mrs. 

 Geo. S. Gay as secretary. The addresses 

 of the secretaries of these societies are 

 given in our 'Directory,' and we trust 

 that they will receive the cooperation of 

 all bird-lovers in their respective states. 



American Society of Bird Restorers 



A report of the work of the American 

 Society of Bird Restorers, prepared by 

 Mr. Fletcher Osgood, its organizer and 

 manager, will appear in Bird -Lore for 

 August. 



Birds and Farmers 



It is pleasing to know that some farmers 

 are awakening to the fact that birds are 

 an important factor in agriculture. At 

 the last monthly meeting of the Farmers' 

 Club of the American Institute of New 

 York, the subject for discussion was "Birds 

 and Their Relation to Agriculture." The 

 subject was introduced by Mr. N. Hallock, 

 who presented a well prepared paper giv- 

 ing much valuable information regarding 

 birds as insect destroyers. These statistics 

 were from publications of the U. S. Dept. 

 of Agriculture and from his own observa- 

 tions. He strongly urged the protection 

 of all birds from the farmer's standpoint. 

 The paper was then discussed by the 

 members present. Mr. William Dutcher, 

 of the Executive Committee of the New 

 York Audubon Society, who was present, 

 addressed the Club, elaborating some of 

 the statements in the paper under dis- 

 cussion and emphasizing the fact that 

 every bird an agriculturist permitted to 

 be killed on his farm was a direct loss to 

 him in money value. 



