390 Bird -Lore 



efforts possible showed that success had attended our eForts in the North 

 even better than we had secured in the South. 



Nine hundred and sixty classes were formed with a total paid membership 

 of 19,365. These were distributed through nineteen states, New Jersey lead- 

 ing with 411 classes and 8,912 members. 



It is a great pleasure to report that so well pleased was our benefactor with 

 the final results that he immediately forwarded a remittance for $5,000 with 

 which to continue the work this season, and at the same time stated that we 

 might expect a like contribution next year. 



Endorsement of Junior Audubon Work by Commissioner Hon. P. P. Claxton 



Dept. of Interior, Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C. 

 I consider the work of the Junior Audubon Classes very important for both 

 educational and economic results, and I congratulate you upon the opportunity of 

 extending it. The bird clause in the Mosaic Law ends with the words: "That it may 

 be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days." The principle still holds. 

 I hope that through your efforts the American people may soon be better informed in 

 regard to our wild birds and their value. 



Yours very truly, 



P. P. Claxton, Commissioner. 

 Washington, September 19, 191 2. 



WORK IN ALASKA 



The rapidity with which the breeding-range of the wild Ducks and Geese 

 in the Northwest is being destroyed by the draining of sloughs, ponds and 

 lakes for agricultural purposes, is annually driving the wild fowl farther north- 

 ward in summer. Ultimately, Alaska will be the last stand for many of these 

 birds, which it is highly desirable should be spared for the pleasure and profit 

 of mankind. 



There is reason to believe, today, that a more or less wholesale business 

 of taking eggs in Alaska for commercial purposes still exists. Indians in many 

 parts of the territory kill numbers of birds for their feathers. As on the out- 

 skirts of civilization everywhere, there are to be found in Alaska large numbers 

 of the white race who through thoughtlessness, or a lack of those finer sen- 

 sibilities which more strongly characterize the older settled sections of our 

 country, wantonly destroy many birds and their nests. These are some of 

 the reasons why it has become tremendously important that the work of bird- 

 study and bird-protection should be seriously inaugurated in Alaska. 



In response to this demand, one of our liberal and far-seeing members, 

 whose name I regret to say we have been requested to withhold for the pres- 

 ent, has agreed to contribute $5,000 during the coming year; $1,000 of this 

 amount has already been remitted. 



During the past summer, Mr. G. Willett, an able ornithologist of Los 



