Report of the Secretary 485 



work will go steadily forward the coming year, for Mrs. Sage has renewed her 

 subscription, and our generous, unnamed patron has already subscribed $20,000 

 for the Junior work in the North. 



The amount of labor devolving upon the ofl&ce force in placing this subject 

 before the teachers of the country, and later in supplying the teachers and 

 pupils with leaflets, pictures, and buttons, can be guessed only by those who 

 have visited the ofl&ces of the Association. In this Junior endeavor, we have, 

 during the past year, enjoyed, as heretofore, the hearty cooperation of many of 

 the State Societies, especially those of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connec- 

 ticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida. 



LEGISLATION 



Few states held legislative sessions during the year of 1914. In Massachu- 

 setts, the usual attempts were made to modify adversely the laws protecting 

 birds and game. The Audubon workers of that state, assisted by others simi- 

 larly interested, successfully withstood these onslaughts, and took the initia- 

 tive in endeavoring to secure certain additional restrictions much needed. 



In Virginia, we aided the State Society in its renewed efforts to secure the 

 establishment of a State Game Commission. A very heavy campaign for the 

 support of the proposed measure was waged throughout the state, but once 

 more the legislature went on record, by a narrow margin, as being opposed to 

 a modern state game- warden system. 



A wide campaign of more than usual intensity has been waged in Cali- 

 fornia during the past summer and autimin to defeat the efforts of the market- 

 men, who were seeking to secure the repeal of the law which prohibits the 

 sale of wild-fowl. It has been a great pleasure to your Board to be able to con- 

 tribute to the expenses of our associates in this work. 



We have also contributed financially to the strenuous efforts being made by 

 our English friends to secure an act of Parliament prohibiting the importation 

 of feathers. The unfortunate war now raging put this work at an end for the 

 present, when victory was almost in sight. 



We were particularly engrossed, for some weeks early in the year, in help- 

 ing to bring before Congress the necessity of appropriating not less than 

 $50,000 for the use of the Department of Agriculture, in enforcing the regu- 

 lations established under the Federal Migratory-Bird Law. Our joy at the 

 successful outcome of these efforts on our part, and on the part of others, was 

 much dampened later, when, as a result of political pressure, those represen- 

 tatives of the Department of Agriculture empowered to make restrictive 

 regulations regarding the killing of birds deemed it necessary to recede in 

 many points from the stand previously taken. Especially do we deplore the 

 action by which all Federal protection was removed from Bobolinks in the 

 states of Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, thus giving the Govern- 



