6o Bird -Lore 



and freely one of the greatest economic and aesthetic movements of the 

 day. 



- The third suggestion is regarding the Junior members, the boys and 

 girls. It is believed that not enough stress is laid upon enlisting the youth 

 of our country in this work. It has been truly said by an educator in Ken- 

 tucky, "It is surely vi^ith the school children, the men and w^omen to be, 

 rather than the adults, we must grow." This idea is the keynote, and sug- 

 gests the future strength of the Audubon movement. What are we doing 

 for the youth at the present time? Surely not enough when we ask them 

 only to sign a pledge, and in return give a button or a leaflet of some kind. 

 Let us look back to our own youth and think how such action would have 

 affected us, — should we have had more than a passing interest which would 

 have been about as lasting as the morning dew ? Children are superlatively 

 creatures of action, full of life and vigor and anxious to do something; they 

 are not satisfied to sit idly by and not be a part of any activity that is going 

 on. Can we not apply this very force to our own benefit ? I think we 

 may. How ? 



It is well known that the individual is the unit, but stronger than the 

 unit is the family, stronger than the family is the hamlet, stronger than the 

 hamlet is the township, then the state, and finally the country. Let us 

 apply the institutional method to the children of villages and towns and 

 form them into branches or clubs, with officers and committees. Are we 

 not always complaining of the boy with the beanshooter or the first gun, 

 who we claim is killing birds or collecting eggs. This is merely misdirected 

 force, and at heart the boy is not bad. If the supposedly worst boy in a 

 hamlet were to be made the chairman of a committee of boj^s and girls 

 whose duty it was to protect birds, one could not find in all the Audubon 

 ranks a more earnest, consistent worker than he would be. What chil- 

 dren need is to have a sense of responsibility for the care or safety of some 

 object. They can always be trusted under such circumstances. It is a 

 vitally different proposition if you say to that same lad, "You must not hurt 

 or frighten the birds, because it is not only wrong but against the law." 

 That is a proposition in which he takes little interest; but let him be per- 

 sonally responsible for the care of the birds, and, believe me, he will not 

 fail you. The stimulus of interest makes all the difference in the world in 

 that boy; in other words, let us judiciously steer the force and activity of 

 the child in the proper channel. Will it not interest the average boy or 

 girl to be on a Committee on nesting boxes, on feeding birds in winter, 

 on a nature library for the town, or school, on bringing the Audubon 

 travehng lecture to the town, on ushering and seating the audience; these 

 things will all serve to help our work and incidentally make good citizens. 

 Let us give this suggestion a fair trial during the coming year. 



The fourth suggestion is that most of the Societies are not growing fast 



