The Audubon Societies 91 



He also has had the privilege of attending, by invitation, a meeting of a 

 bird club composed of boys of a New Jersey school, and he w^as expected to 

 offer suggestions about the management of the club and its method of con- 

 ducting meetings; but, after critically noting the methods employed, he 

 could make no suggestions for their improvement. 



There are certain features in the management of these two organizations 

 which so obviously contribute to their remarkable success that they are here 

 used as examples, in the hope that other organizations may derive from them 

 hints that will lead to a like measure of success. 



The natural history clubs above referred to have the usual officers, which 

 are elected annually; meetings are held twice a month, and are presided 

 over by the president, or, in his absence, by the vice-president or some mem- 

 ber temporarily selected ; the secretary keeps the minutes, which must be 

 read and approved at a subsequent meeting; the dues are $1 per year. 



Occasionally a member gives a stereopticon talk or some other special 

 program, but the usual order is to pass briefly through the routine 

 business, roll-call, reading minutes of last meeting, election of members 

 proposed at last meeting, proposal of new members, unfinished business, 

 new business. Then comes "items of interest," under which head the 

 president calls on each member in turn for any matter of interest he 

 may have to relate, and general discussion of such items takes place. In a 

 membership almost entirely amateur it is surprising what an amount of 

 interesting and valuable information is brought out, and the discussion is so 

 informal that there is no atmosphere of undue stififness or restraint. Follow- 

 ing the items of interest, all of the members exhibit specimens, rare or com- 

 mon, many being of the simplest form, yet all are of interest to those 

 present. 



The boys' bird club referred to is nearly ideal and will continue to be so 

 while its original methods are adhered to. The ages of the members range 

 from twelve to sixteen years; there are the usual ofScers and parliamentary 

 methods of conducting meetings; the educational leaflets of the National 

 Association of Audubon Societies are used as a basis of study. A leaflet is 

 alloted to each member to study and report on, three or four members at 

 each meeting reading essays on as many dififerent birds, studied from the 

 leaflet, from any other accessible source, and as far as possible from original 

 observations. In these essays, quotations are given from authorities, with 

 remarks on the quoted statements from the experience of the boy observer, 

 much of the matter given being entirely original. 



Prizes are given for the best essay during a given period. 



Another feature is the reading, by each member, of a list of the birds 

 observed since the last meeting, and prizes are given for the best lists made 

 during a given period. A few of the boys have cameras and photograph 

 bird life, and here again prizes reward the greatest measures of success. 



