The Audubon Societies 



95 



Kentucky, also, with its memories of Audu- 

 bon and James Lane Allen's Cardinal, has 

 fittingly joined the ranks, beginning its 

 work by sending out printed warnings and 

 freely posting the Bird Laws and the 

 penalty for breaking them. 



This is the season for garden classes 

 and walking bird clubs of young people. 

 If it is impossible to obtain the services of 

 a professional bird student as a guide, an 

 amateur, who knows but a score or two of 

 birds, if he is sure of his knoivledgc , may 

 give a great deal of pleasure to his friends, 

 whose lists of positive acquaintances in the 

 bird world can be counted on the ten 

 fingers. 



The Pennsylvania Society has had the 

 good fortune to receive a bequest of fi.ooo 

 from Miss Gregg. We wish to remind our 

 friends anywhere that it is not necessary 

 that they should die in order to remember 

 the Audubon Societies, and that we shall 

 be doubly pleased to receive gifts of $i,ooo 

 or under during the lifetime of the donors. 



M. O. W. 



The Question of Fees 



All Audubon Society directors, I am 

 sure, read with much interest the article 

 in April Bird-Lore relative to fees and 

 pledges, and the argument in favor of fees 

 as a means of paying expenses of the socie- 

 ties " without begging." 



So far as I am aware the Pennsylvania 

 Society is the only one that does not have 

 regular fees, though many admit teachers 

 and scholars free. As I was personally 

 responsible for the free membership plan 

 adopted by our society, I trust you will 

 allow me a few words in explanation of 

 our course and its results. 



At the time the Pennsylvania Audubon 

 Society was organized there was but one 

 other such society in existence, and it was 

 much harder to obtain members than it is 

 today, when the principles of bird pro- 

 tection are better known. The success of 

 the movement rested mainly upon the 

 acquisition of a large membership, and it 

 was felt that fees would defeat this object. 

 It was further considered that those who 



could afford to pay fees would contribute 

 voluntarily, and experiment proved the 

 correctness of this view. The only "beg- 

 ging" that the society has done has been 

 to state in its general circulars that its 

 expenses were met by voluntary subscrip- 

 tions, just as other societies print their 

 lists of fees. One plan, no doubt, works 

 better in one community and another in 

 another, but the agreement is certainly not 

 all on the side of a fee sytem. 



The Pennsylvania Audubon Society has 

 now some 5,000 members, and its annual 

 reports speak for themselves as to its 

 success. 



The graded membership whereby some 

 members get certificates and circulars, and 

 others (school children) get only buttons, 

 has one disadvantage, which I do not 

 think has been noticed in the Bird-Lore 

 articles, viz. ; what becomes of school chil- 

 dren members after they cease to be 

 school children ? The Pennsylvania Society 

 has now a number of young ladies in its 

 membership who joined as school children. 

 Would they not have been lost to the 

 society, in many cases, if they did not 

 receive at least a yearly communication 

 from headquarters ? In the Pennsylvania 

 Society every member, from school chil- 

 dren to patrons, gets the society's report, 

 with a ticket to the annual meeting, and 

 there is probably nothing that will keep 

 alive the interest of a widely scattered 

 membership so well as this feeling of per- 

 sonal contact with the central office that 

 is fostered by these yearly communica- 

 tions. Sincerely yours, 



Witmer Stone, 

 Pres. Pennsylvania Audubon Society. 



Reports of Societies 



DELAWARE SOCIETY 



The Delaware Audubon Society was 

 organized on Saturday, April 7, at the resi- 

 dence of Mrs. William S. Hilles, Delamore 

 place, by the election of the following offi- 

 cers : President, Arthur R. Spaid ; Secre- 

 tary, Mrs. William S. Hilles; Treasurer, 

 Mrs. Job H. Jackson The Board of Direc- 

 tors will consist of 12 members, four from 



