The Audubon Societies 



219 



being with distinct and interesting char- 

 acteristics, qualities, and relations to us 

 and the rest of the world — an object 

 from which something may be learned, 

 and which must not be wantonly sacri- 

 ficed. With the growth of interest, there 

 naturally arises a sense of care; and bird- 

 lovers are inevitably bird-protectors. 



That this is the real significance of 

 'bird-study' in the schools, is plain from 

 the letters printed elsewhere in this num- 

 ber. None of these letters was written 

 for publication, but each gives the simple 

 annals of a little club here and there, many 

 of whose 

 bright faces 

 smile at us 



pared material at half, or less than half, 

 the actual cost of printing and handling. 

 By the end of the school-year, in 191 1, 

 533 Junior Classes had been formed, 

 with a total paid membership of 10,595. 

 Mrs. Sage has continued to contribute 

 each year a sum equal to her first gift, 

 and the work has gone steadily forward. 

 In 191 2, 10,004 children were enrolled; 

 in 1913, 12,815; and within the present 

 year, up to May i, the number of Junior 

 members who have received systematic 

 instruction in bird-study is 17,947. 



At the annual meeting of the National 

 Association in October, 1911, one of the 

 members who was present and heard of 

 this work became impressed with the 

 desirability of ex- 

 tending similar 

 benefits to the 

 children of the 

 Northern and 

 Western States. 



from these pages, 

 and each shows that 

 the work that little 

 club is doing is a 

 very important if 

 not a conspicuous element in the educa- 

 tion of every member. 



As a matter of fact, bird-study is every 

 day coming to be a more pronounced 

 factor in the instruction given to children 

 in the public and private schools of this 

 country. 



The plan of supplying pupils with two 

 Educational Leaflets, colored plates, and 

 outline drawings of birds, and an Audu- 

 bon button, all for ten cents, was first 

 offered to children in the Southern States 

 in the autumn of 1910, when Mrs. Russell 

 Sage gave the Association $5,000 for 

 educational work in bird-study in that 

 region. Mrs. Sage was particularly inter- 

 ested in the protection of the Robin; and 

 the Association felt that in no better way 

 could a part of the fund be expended than 

 in instructing the children of the South 

 on the beauty of bird-study and the value 

 of bird-protection. Hence, it was arranged 

 to give the children this carefully pre- 



BIRD-HOUSE 



TOWN 



He therefore 

 proceeded to 

 arrange for a 

 fund of $5,000, 



to pay the expense of the proposed experi- 

 ment. The office-force of the Association 

 was at once increased, and the plan pre- 

 sented to northern and western teachers. 

 The results were even better than in the 

 South, for, when the schools closed in June, 

 191 2, it was found that 19,365 Juniors had 

 been enrolled. For the work the next 

 year this good patron of the children 

 increased his gift to $7,000, and 40,342 

 Juniors were added to the ranks. During 

 the past year this same interested friend 

 has provided $12,000 for this work, and 

 the total number of Juniors enrolled this 

 year, up to May i, is 79,823. 



Statistics of Junior Classes and their 

 members, from June 15, 1913, to May i, 

 1914, arranged by states, North and 

 South, follows on page 221. 



