Reports of Affiliated Organizations loi 



My Dear Mr. Baynes: 



I wish you all possible success in your movement. Few things mean more for the 

 attractiveness and beauty of the country life than the establishment of these bird 

 clubs, and this entirely apart from their general utilitarian significance. 



The Meriden Bird Club has been an example of inspiration to all of us, and I 

 earnestly hope its example will be followed throughout the country. 



Sincerely yours, (Signed) Theodore Roosevelt. 



Through our influence, bird clubs have been formed recently in Topeka, 

 Kans.; San Antonio, Texas; Yonkers and Millbrook, N. Y.; Northfield, Brad- 

 ford, and Lunenburg, Mass.; and at Wellesley College; and many clubs previ- 

 ously organized have been persuaded to join the National Association of 

 Audubon Societies. , 



The Club has had interesting lectures by Herbert K. Job, Robert Cushman 

 Murphy, Henry Oldys, Lawrence Smith, and Ernest Harold Baynes. 



The students and faculty of Kimball Union Academy have shown unusual 

 interest in our work this year, and the senior class has pledged itself to support 

 the Bird Club in every possible way. 



For the third successive year, the Congregational Church at Meriden 

 recognized 'Bird Sunday.' Services were held in the Sanctuary as usual, and 

 Mr. Baynes delivered a sermon on 'Our Bird Allies in the World's War.' Mr. 

 Wilfred Barnes furnished violin music, and the pastor. Rev. Noble 0. 

 Bowlby, conducted the service. The offering was divided between the Church 

 and the Bird Club. 



In August, the Ben Greet Players gave two performances of 'As you Like 

 It' on the stage in the Sanctuary, and the Club made a net profit of $85. 



In September, the General Manager delivered a lecture for the benefit of 

 the local branch of the Red Cross Society. 



'Sanctuary Day' was held on Monday, October 8, and sixteen women, 

 sixteen men, and two horses worked in the Sanctuary with a view of making it 

 more attractive, both to the bird tenants and their human visitors. 



Our members have put up thirteen war posters supplied by the National 

 Association of Audubon Societies. — (Miss) Elizabeth Bennett, Secretary. 



Minneapolis Branch, Minnesota Game-Protective League. — Most of the 

 work being done by the Minneapolis Branch is more or less a duplication of the 

 work done during 19 16. 



Briefly, the new work accomplished by our League the past year is as fol- 

 lows: During the last session of the Legislature, eleven out of twelve bills in which 

 we were interested were passed. Among the most important of these were : A 

 close season on the Ruffed Grouse for three years ; the cutting in half of the open 

 season and bag limits on Prairie Chickens or Pinnated Grouse, Sharp-tailed 

 Grouse and Quail; stopping of shooting from automobiles; an Alien Gun Law 

 similar to that in force in the State of Pennsylvania; the age-limit taken from 



