354 Bird -Lore 



houses in different public parks or private preserves over the country. As the 

 latest of these, we have just revised the blue-prints for one being built by Mr. 

 Chester K. Brooks on his estate near Cleveland, Ohio, where he is going ex- 

 tensively into the cultivation of wild water-fowl. 



The lecture calls, as usual, have been interesting. For instance, the tour 

 of Maine cities last year created the demand for more, and a more extended 

 itinerary, including most of the original places, was carried through last April. 

 Lectures were given in three colleges — Bowdoin, Bates, and Colby. At Port- 

 land, five school lectures were given in one day, with the Bowdoin College 

 lecture that evening — quite a full day's work! At Bangor we had the large 

 Bangor Opera House for our lecture with motion pictures, which was jammed 

 to the doors with some 2,000 auditors, about 800 more, according to the 

 theatre manager, being turned away. Another good tour was in Canada, 

 including Montreal, Hamilton, and Ottawa, the latter being under the auspices 

 of the Government Department of National Parks, at the Victoria Memorial 

 Museum. At Hamilton the opening was delayed for about half an hour, till 

 the crowds which blocked the sidewalks could get in. 



The past summer was devoted to a tour of the northern coasts, to secure 

 new motion pictures of northern wild-bird life for the educational purposes of 

 this Association. This was in continuation of the joint publicity arrangement 

 with the C. L. Chester Productions, mentioned in last year's report. Every- 

 thing went off as planned on a long trip including the Magdalen Islands, the 

 Bird Rocks, northern Nova Scotia, and the coast of Maine. Among the scenes 

 secured was one series of a pair of Least Sandpipers cuddling their young on 

 the palm of the outstretched hand, with various other spectacular things. In 

 all we secured over a mile and a half of first-class film, which will compose about 

 six new subjects, and will be used for the national and international trade 

 channels under the name of this Association, to interest the public in wild 

 birds and in our work, as well as for the direct lecture work of this Association. 



To accomplish this it was necessary to omit for this season our usual Summer 

 School session at Amston, Conn., yet visitors and individual learners were 

 received there as usual, and, with a resident keeper in charge, the work for and 

 with the birds went right on. The nesting-boxes, as usual, were fully occupied, 

 many having three nestings, leaving most boxes this fall crammed full. Of 

 the various propagation work it may be mentioned that from the Redheads, 

 Pintails, Black Ducks, and Wood Ducks young were again raised, and of these 

 and others we are establishing valuable breeding strains. 



The work at Amston has developed to a pass in which we need opportunity 

 for enlargement of scope and of building for all time. A movement is now on 

 foot to obtain backing to take over, under full control in the near future, this 

 beautiful lake and environs on long lease, with option to purchase, making it 

 permanently a wild-life sanctuary, a link of the National chain of wildfowl 

 refuges and our Audubon Society Experiment Station in Applied Ornithology, 



