THE AUDUBON NOTE BOOK. 



MEMBERSHIP RETURNS. 



The number of registered members on March 31 

 ■was 26, 751, showing an increase during the month 

 of 4.353 members, being about a thousand in excess 

 of the greatest number registered in any previous 

 month. The following table shows the proportion in 

 which the several States of the Union and Canada 

 contributed to this result, viz.: 



New York 



Pennsylvania... 

 Massachusetts. 

 New Jersey. 



.955 Maine 57 



.546 Maryland 38 



• 3°5 Vermont 10 



.206 Minnesota 26 



Illinois 201 Georgia 25 



Indiana. 196 California 20 



Michigan ...739 District of Columbia 25 



Ohio 167 Texas 10 



Kansas 65 Virginia Ji 



Connecticut 64 West Virginia S 



lo .va 48 Colorado 8 



Missouri 47 Tennessee i 



New Hampshire 46 Florida i 



Rhode Island 98 Canada 349 



Wisconsin 44 



4,353 



"LITTLE TOM." 



He was only a bird, little Tom, and a small one 

 at that; but when his owner lost him, she found that 

 he had a big place in her heart. 



He was a canary, but instead of being of an uni- 

 form yellow color, he was beautifully marked: bright 

 yellow and green were his colors, cxijuisitely shaded, 

 his head being adorned with a bright green cap. 



Little Tom was never confined to his cage, he had 

 full liberty to roam about the house, and confidence 

 begot confidence. I think he was fond of his mis- 

 tress, at any rate he lot)ked on her attentions as his 

 proper right, and did not hesitate to take liberties 

 with her. 



Did she sleep too long in the morning, Little 'I'om 

 would alight on her head and try to raise the heavy 

 eyelashes, or in some way impress her with the im- 

 portance of ministering to his needs, for he was a 

 great advocate of early breakfasts. 



Seated on her shoulder and picking seed from her 

 hand or from between her lips he was very happy; 

 but he sometimes became very angry. At such 

 moments he would frown, drawing his gfreen cap 

 down over his eyes, flap his wings, screech, and pre- 

 pare for battle, and when thus roused, none of the 

 family cared to meddle with him. All knew by experi- 

 ence what a powerful sharp little beak he had, and 

 how ready he was to use it when roused by a sense 

 of wrong to vengeance. 



Ves, little Tom was a part of her life in those 

 days, his cunning ways endeared him to her, and she 

 never thought of losing him, nor of the blank in her 

 heart his loss would create, but his hour came; the 

 little bird with his exquisite grace and cunning ways 

 and gush of melody was destroyed by an old Maltese 

 cat. 



^'ears have passed, but little Tom is not forgotten, 

 and to his influence upon his owner the Easton (Pa.) 

 branch of the Audubon Society owes its origin. This 

 branch will ere long have a numerical strength of a 

 thousand, thanks to the organizd activity of its boy 

 members, with Albert M. Tomson at their head. 

 Annie Feit Davis. 



ROBINS NORTH AND SOUTH. 



A New York correspondent, who has been travel- 

 ing in Virginia, expresses surprise at finding the 

 robin there esteemed only "as an article of food. 

 Strange as this may have appeared to him, it must be 

 remembered that the robin is looked upon very dif- 

 ferently in the North and in the South, and this is 

 because the bird itself and its associations are changed. 

 The robin of the South is by no means the robin of 

 the North; there is almost as complete a transfor- 

 mation as that of the bobolink of Northern meadows 

 into the rice bird of Southern fields. 



In the North the robin is a domestic bird; it nests 

 confidingly in the lilacs by the porch, is busy all day 

 long in the yard and fields about the house, and at 

 sunset sounds its cheer)' call from the topmost bough 

 of the pear tree. From its first coming as one of the 

 heralds of the glad springtime, and through the sum- 

 mer, it is a familiar and cherished part of the 

 outdoor surroundings of every country home; of all 

 birds it hoUls first place in the afTections of old and 

 )()ung; and when the country boy goes to the city 

 and grows up amid brick-walled streets, he always 

 sees the home pair of robins in the picture of the 

 little white farmhouse, memory so often recalls. 



But summer ended, over the robin comes a change; 

 he forgets his song, leaves his haunts in the door- 

 yards, grows wild and shy, shuns mankind, and 

 takes to the woods and swamps. Then going South, 

 the birds gather in flocks, and lose the intlividuality 

 which has so much to do with making them recog- 

 nized and welcome in the North. They are no 

 longer domestic in their ways, and there are no tender 

 associations to protect them and stay the hand of 

 the gunner. The mockingbird, not the robin, is the 

 home bird of the South. Perhaps if the mockingbird. 



