The Audubon Societies 



149 



We had greatly hoped that Bird Day 

 would be established by law at the session 

 of the State Legislature just closed, but it 

 has been placed in the hands of a most 

 excellent commission, with the state super- 

 intendent of schools and one of our Audu- 

 bon directors — county superintendent of 

 Schools of Cook county — among its mem- 

 bers; so its prospects are bright. Some 

 of our local branches — particularly those 

 in Chicago Heights, Alton, Galena, Lake 

 Forest, Streator and La Grange — are doing 

 excellent work, but the finding of interested 

 and efficient officers for local societies is 

 our most difficult problem. 



We have increased our classes of mem- 

 berships by two, making our present mem- 

 berships five : Sustaining-paying $25 ; 

 associate, $1 ; regular, 25 cents; active, $1 

 a year, and juniors paying no fees. We 

 have also made several changes in our con- 

 stitution, and have formed from our four- 

 teen directors six committees, thus dividing 

 the work and responsibility more evenly. 

 The old nursery song of the London bells 

 is frequently in our minds : 



"When I grow rich 



Say the bells of Shoreditch. 



When will that be ? 



Rang the bells of Stephney." 



Like the "great bell of Bow" we are 

 " sure we don't know," but when the good 

 time comes we have visions of a lending 

 library and an illustrated lecture and other 

 such helpful delights like those of some of 

 our sister Societies. Till those good times 

 come we must make our cents (or sense!) do 

 the work of dollars and do what we ca7i till 

 we can do what we nxjould. 



Mary Drummond, Secretary. 



DELAWARE SOCIETY 



The annual meeting of the Delaware 

 Audubon Society was held on Saturday 

 afternoon, May 25, in the Friends' Meeting 

 House, Fourth and West streets, Wilmington. 

 The reports of the secretary and treasurer 

 were read. Mrs. W. S. Hilles' report 

 showed a membership of 512. The Society 

 has been in existence thirteen months. The 

 law passed by the recent Legislature to 

 protect birds was read and comments made 



concerning it. It was decided to have a 

 number of cards containing the law printed, 

 distributed in the city and state and hung 

 in the parks and other public places. A 

 reward will be offered by the association for 

 information leading to the arrest and con- 

 viction of any one violating the law. 



A vote of thanks was offered to William 

 Dutcher, treasurer of the American Orni- 

 thologists' Union, of New York; Dr. T. S. 

 Palmer, of the Department of Agriculture; 

 Professor Witmer Stone, of Philadelphia, 

 president of the American Ornithologists' 

 Union of Pennsylvania; and Walter D. 

 Bush and Alfred D. Poole, who assisted in 

 getting the law through the Legislature. A 

 prize of five or ten dollars is to be offered 

 for the best essay on the subject of birds to 

 be written by a boy or girl under the age 

 of nineteen years. 



The defeat of the pigeon bill was brought 

 up for discussion and congratulations ex- 

 changed. In speaking of the bill, it was 

 said that there are only three species of 

 birds that are not protected by law; viz., 

 the English Sparrow, the Red-winged Black- 

 bird, and the Crow Blackbird, which are 

 regarded as injurious to crops. 



The Society hopes to extend its course of 

 lectures to the people in the state outside of 

 the city, but for the present, on account of 

 lack of funds, it is unable to do so. The 

 membership is free and therefore, in order 

 to continue the work, a contribution list is 

 to be started. 



After the business had been transacted a 

 public meeting was held. No officers were 

 elected because a quorum of directors could 

 not be secured. 



A. R. Spaid, President of the Society, 

 gave a talk. Fifty colored views of birds 

 were shown, most of which had been made 

 by Mr. Spaid during the winter months. 

 The lecture was entitled "BirdingWith a 

 Camera." 



WISCONSIN SOCIETY 



{Fourth Annual Report) 



During the past year the work of the 

 Society has been carried on with vigor. 

 Large numbers of leaflets on bird protection 

 have been distributed, an especial effort 



