The Audubon Societies 



233 



modern Florida, and shows the club at 

 Palm Beach, in respect to which Mrs. 

 Flora Grice Havill, its organizer, writes 

 an entertaining story: 



"This Audubon Class was the result of 

 the interest aroused by a lecture by Dr. 

 Eugene Swope; and, after listening to 

 him, it was easy to arouse enthusiasm in 

 the pupils. I began by reading to them a 

 delightful little book, 'Dickey Downy,' 

 by Virginia Sharpe Patterson, an auto- 



program of poems and sketches. We use 

 our leaflets for either a reading- or a 

 language-lesson, or both; and so enthusi- 

 astic have the children become that they 

 want to study birds only — nothing else 

 seems to possess enough of life and charm. 

 They have brought in several deserted 

 nests, and some of the boys are making 

 bird-houses. The officers of the society 

 have offered a prize to the class for the 

 best essay, of not less than one hundred 

 and fifty words, on the Robin. They 

 have chosen for judges the supervisor of 



THE DICKEY DOWNY AUDUBON SOCIETY AT PALM BEACH, FLORIDA 



biography of a bird. As I finished the 

 last chapter, my oldest, roughest, and most 

 trying boy laid on my desk a good like- 

 ness of the Meadowlark that he had cut 

 from a paper and nicely colored; on the 

 underside were these words: 'I will never 

 kill another bird.' Then every child 

 wanted to bring some story, or a clipping 

 from a newspaper or magazine, pertain- 

 ing to birds or animals; and some of the 

 boys consulted the sheriff as to the laws 

 for their protection. I then organized 

 an Audubon Society of twenty-six mem- 

 bers out of my Fifth Grade of thirty-two 

 pupils, and we named it Dickey Downy 

 Society. 



"We have a meeting once in two weeks, 

 at which the officers are learning to con- 

 duct a business meeting and a literary 



the primary department and the English 

 teacher in the high school; and the con- 

 test promises to be a very interesting one." 



Methods in Ohio and New Jersey 



Ashland, Ohio, has an important 

 Junior Class, composed, as its leader, 

 Ralph D. Richards tells us, of freshmen 

 and junior high-school students, who have 

 shown much interest in birds, and call 

 themselves "The Bluebirds." All are 

 working for new members, and the class 

 has grown from thirteen members to 

 twenty. Its officers are energetic in 

 getting new members, arranging for 



