State Audubon Reports 331 



South Carolina. — Hard fighting, with continued progress, has marked he 

 third year of the Society's labors. Nothing resulted from the effort to get a Game 

 Commissioner appointed and a resident license law passed, at the last session 

 of the general assembly, which met in January. 



The Society secured a moral victory, and met with a more cordial reception 

 than it has ever yet had; but politics was supreme, and the bills brought in from 

 the Committees were not acted on. 



Since that time, the Secretary has consistently directed attention to the various 

 farmers' organizations in the state, and has secured their endorsement in turn. 

 The Society will go before the legislature next time with the endorsement of 

 every organization of farmers in South Carolina. This ought to be sufficient 

 to secure the necessary legislation. 



Field Work. — Failure in the halls of legislation has been offset by success in 

 the field. The Secretary organized a branch Society in the city of Charleston 

 with a large and enthusiastic membership, and this led to a consolidation with the 

 South Carolina Audubon Society, organized in 1900 (January 4). This Society, 

 of which Miss Sarah A. Smythe, of Charleston, was the able and untiring Sec- 

 retary, had carried on its good work unaided for many years, and had produced 

 a visible effect. During a stay of four months in Charleston, this last winter 

 and spring, the Secretary saw only three aigrettes, and was intensely gratified to 

 learn that they were worn by visitors. No Charleston woman of good breeding 

 wears them. 



The Charleston Branch. — The officers of the Charleston Branch are well- 

 known business men and sportsmen. The President is Frederic L. Green, Teller 

 of the Bank of Charleston; the Vice-president is Edward F. Lowndes, of the 

 Virginia-Carolina Chemical Company; and the Secretary is Capt. George H. 

 Petermann, of the large wholesale firm of Petermann Bros., East Bay, and also 

 member of the B. H. Worthen .\rms Company, King Street. 



The membership represents the very best business, social and professional 

 elements of Charleston — the typical Charleston, about which one reads in the 

 romances and the histories. 



The significance of this is of the last importance to the cause of bird pro- 

 tection on the coast. Charleston is still surrounded by immense plantations, 

 and by large hunting preserves, the owners of which can render service of utmost 

 value to bird protection. The consolidation of all these interests into one Society^ 

 dominated by a common aim, was a work that would have been sufficient for 

 an ordinary hfetime. The result is that the South Carolina coast-line, rich beyond 

 computation in the variety and extent of its bird life, is now guarded by a mihtant 

 camp of citizens. 



One immediate effect was the trial and conviction of Arthur Lambert, notori- 

 ous poacher and plume hunter. Lambert had shot up the rookery of American 

 Egrets, photographed by Mr. F. M. Chapman, and, when hotly pursued by 

 wardens Avith warrants, had sprung overboard in Sampit river and swum ashore, 



