36o Bird - Lore 



ington State Audubon Society with a membership of forty, since increased to 

 over two hundred. 



We believe that we have a most promising field for the cultivation of bird- 

 lovers, and we find that protective sentiment has been already developed, and 

 fostered to a gratifying degree by the efforts of the Washington State Game 

 and Fish Protective Association, of which our efficient secretary, Mr. H. Rief, 

 is the animating spirit. Our work has an assured welcome in public school 

 circles, and we await only the advent of the man with time enough to address 

 himself to the important task of guiding and informing an awakening interest. 



There are in the interior of Washington a few Grebe colonies, which formerly 

 suffered at the hands of skin hunters, but we do not know of recent depredations. 

 Hawks and Owls suffer severely at the hands of unthinking farmers in eastern 

 Washington, and we are reaping the expected harvest of 'sage rats' in conse- 

 quence. Certain species of Grouse, notably the Columbian Sharp-tailed and 

 the Sage Grouse, are possibly doomed to extinction; but, on the other hand, the 

 spread of introduced species, notably the Mongolian Pheasant, and the Bob-white, 

 is quite reassuring. Although the Enghsh Sparrow has been long with us, it 

 is only recently that we have begun to notice the blighting influence of his mob 

 tactics in our larger cities. 



In the summer of 1906, and again in 1907, the president of the Society recon- 

 noitered the islands lying off the west coast of Washington and located some 

 thirty rookeries of sea-birds. This region is little frequented by white men, but 

 the birds have suffered in a diminishing ratio from the depredations of Indians. 

 An effort has been made to put a stop to this practice, ancient as it is, and the 

 agent in charge of the Makah Reservation, Dr. C. S. Woods, has promised his 

 hearty cooperation to this end. 



Some idea of the extent of these island colonies may be obtained when I 

 mention that probably 10,000 Rhinoceros Auklets nest on Destruction Island, 

 and 40,000 Kaeding Petrels on Dhuoyuatzachtahl, one of the Quillayute Needles 

 group; while upon Carroll Islet eleven of the twelve species known to the entire 

 coast were found in June, J 907. Doubtless the time will come when it will be 

 desirable to make of the last named a government reservation. — W. Leon Daw- 

 son, President. 



Wisconsin. — Our Society has done little during the past year outside of 

 educational work, which has consisted mainly in the distribution of ten or twelve 

 thousand Leaflets amongst the schools and hbraries of the state, and in the cir- 

 culation of our slides and lectures. 



Our membership in the school branches continues to increase as the interest 

 amongst the school children is fostered by our little magazine ' By the Wayside, ' 

 which is still pubhshed in connection with the Illinois Society. Our classes for 

 bird study conducted, in Madison during the spring months, were, as usual, 

 well attended. — Mrs. R. G. Thwaites, Secretary. 



