THE AUDUBON NOTE BOOK. 



MEMBERSHIP RETURNS. 



It has frequently been observed that there is a 

 relation between ethics and climate, and certain it 

 is that the Audubon Society does not expand at its 

 normal ratio with the thermometer coquetting with 

 the "nineties" in the shade. The registrations for 

 July amounted to only 1,429, leaving the Society 

 with a total registered strength of 37,453 at the close 

 of the month. The following is the order in which 

 the several States and Territories contributed to the 

 increase for the month: 



New York 595 



Massachusetts 152 



New Hampshire 11 



New Jersey icg 



Vermont 14 



Connecticut 93 



Rhode Island i 



Maine 10 



Illinois 40 



Kansas 4 



Oregon i 



Pennsylvania 83 



West Virginia 11 



Virginia 3 



Florida 5 



Georgia 2 



Tennessee 4 



Texas , i 



District of Columbia 20 



Maryland • 15 



Michigan 19 Kentucky 15 



Ohio 71 California 3 



Missouri 4 Canada 96 



Minnesota 2 North Carolina 5 



Nebraska 6 Indiana 4 



Wisconsin 3 England 40 



Utah Territory 7 



1,429 

 C. F. Amery, General Secretary. 



THE AUDUBON BADGE, 



So long delayed and so impatiently waited for by 

 many, was ready for distribution the first week in 

 August, and we have every cause to be gratified with 



its favorable reception. It is a brooch pin of coin 

 silver, with motto and monogram as in the design. 

 Price, fifty cents. 



ENGLISH PRESS ON FEATHER MILLINERY. 



It is incorrect to say that the London dealers are 

 offering larger prices this season for sea birds. The 

 fashion of wearing feathers is declining, and, there- 

 fore, the dealers are slow to purchase, even at last 

 year's prices, and some of them have cancelled 

 orders. There are not so many gunners engaged in 

 the pursuit this season. — Yorkshire Post. 



I fear it is of little use — the love of finery swamps 

 kindness in so many women's breasts — or I would 



second the plea of a naturalist who sadly draws at- 

 tention to the heartless destruction of the egrets and 

 herons in Florida. 



The "osprey" feathers prized by ladies are pro- 

 duced on the birds during the breeding season, andi 

 the sportsmen who supply the demand shoot the old 

 birds and leave the young ones to starve in their 

 nests by thousands. 



Dead bird decoration is a barbarous practice, but, 

 if fashion demanded it, some women would wear 

 their own dead babies with as little remorse as they 

 don the corpses of victims in all branches of the 

 animal creation. — London Weekly Times and Echo. 



WHAT BIRD IS IT ? 



A LADY from Rochester writes: "I have been to 

 the country, where I saw and heard so many birds 

 we seldom see or hear at home, although we live in 

 the suburbs. One old friend greeted me — a little 

 brown bird that sings in our orchard. I didn't 

 know his name, although I had been trying for 

 three years to find out. Here was my opportunity. 

 I summoned the farmer and asked him if he knew 

 the bird. " Oh, yes," he replied promptly, " that's 

 a little brown bird that sings around here." "I was 

 so thankful for the information," adds our corre- 

 spondent. 



The paper in this issue describing the working 

 organization of the Smith College Audubon Society 

 will interest many of our readers. How many of 

 our most ardent supporters, after canvassing schools 

 and finding a majority of the young people easily in- 

 terested in bird protection, have not felt that some- 

 thing was necessary to keep the interest alive ? To 

 all such who have opportunities for field work the 

 example of the Smith College Society may be fol- 

 lowed with profit. For those who have not, the in- 

 formation should be sought in books. It is a great 

 mistake to limit the work of the Society to proselyt- 

 ing. 



Although the wood thrush does not usually seek 

 the society of man, there appear to be some excep- 

 tions. A correspondent writing from Flushing, this 

 State, early in August, reported a wood thrush's 

 nest with young in a tree close to her house. A week 

 later she reported, " The wood thrush's family has 

 disappeared, and we can only conjecture whether 

 the young ones were able to fly away, or whether 

 they fell from the nest and were caught by the cat." 

 We fear it was an error of judgment on the wood 

 thrush's part to build so near the house. 



