The Audubon Societies 



105 



professes to teach. It is like teaching a 

 child the outlines of the great events of his- 

 tory through sensational novels and then ex- 

 pecting him to be content with a subsequent 

 course of dignified history. After the lurid 

 envelopment of an overheated imagination, 

 the truth, however wonderful in itself, must 

 seem cold and bare indeed. 



In all nature work, and especially in in- 

 vestigations relating to birds and their pro- 

 tection, should the greatest accuracy be 

 maintained. Any sportsman will testify 

 that to overshoot the mark is generally to 

 scatter shot further afield than to undershoot ; 

 and thus sentimental exaggeration, toward 

 which there is at present such a pitiful rush 

 by many who, knowing better, persist in 

 using its methods to win their willing and 

 ignorant audience (and the ignorant are 

 often in the majority), will ere long be a 

 spent force. 



To paraphrase a truism — The truth of 

 nature thrown to earth by the lack of men- 

 tal balance among a few authors will surely 

 rise again, but we do not wish any of our 

 zealous bird protectionists to be found 

 among those victims meshed in war who 

 cannot rise, even upon the wings of their 

 own imagination, in the company of truth. 



M. O. W. 



National Committee Notes 

 By the Chairman 



To emphasize the necessity of incorpora- 

 tion, which has been brought to the atten- 

 tion of the Audubon members in the last 

 two issues of Biro-Lore, it is only neces- 

 sary to present the following letter: 



Audubon Society of America 



New York, N. Y. April 21, 1904 



"Kindly send me your exact corporate 

 name for the purposes of a bequest. I sup- 

 pose you have some descriptive pamphlet 

 which contains it, and I ask for as early an 

 answer as possible." 



This letter shows that the work of the 

 Audubon Societies and the continual agita- 

 tion of the subject of bird protection by let- 

 ters, leaflets and newspaper articles is com- 

 mencing to bear fruit; it is an important 

 economic subject which must attract the 



attention of philanthropic people who will 

 finally endow the National Committee with 

 a sufficiently large sum to guarantee the 

 continuance of all branches of Audubon 

 work. 



A prominent attorney in New York City 

 has volunteered his services and is now 

 looking into the matter of incorporation ; 

 i.e., whether it will be better to incorpo- 

 rate in Washington or in New York City ; 

 the former being the national center, whereas 

 the latter is the financial metropolis. It is 

 probable that before the August issue of 

 Bird-Lore is published the Committee can 

 announce that the physical act of incorpora- 

 tion has been completed, when it will be 

 necessary to call the attention of citizens 

 throughout the country to the fact that the 

 National Committee of Audubon Societies 

 has a legal status and can hold real estate 

 or other property in the nature of a perma- 

 nent endowment to carry on the work of 

 bird protection in perpetuity. 



This being the year when most biennial 

 legislatures do not meet, — this branch 

 of committee work has not been so ardu- 

 ous ; although at times it has been of 

 rather a strenuous nature, and the result in 

 a immber of states has been of a very de- 

 cidedly retrograde character, showing how 

 important it is that the work of bird protec- 

 tion shall be placed upon a permanent basis. 

 If the education of the public is not per- 

 sisted in, all of the results accomplished in 

 the past few years can be wiped out in a 

 shorter time than it took the milliners' 

 agents to almost exterminate the Terns of 

 the Atlantic coast,— and this every bird- 

 lover knows was done in about two years. 



In Massachusetts the legislature is strug- 

 gling with a bill to protect the Hawks and 

 Owls; whether the members can overcome 

 the ingrained prejudices of generations re- 

 garding these two classes of birds is still 

 uncertain. 



In the adjoining state of Rhode Island 

 the legislature has retreated so far into the 

 dark ages that they have actually passed a 

 law providing a bounty on Hawks, Owls 

 and Crows, notwithstanding the united 

 efforts of the sportsmen's clubs and the 

 Audubon Society to prevent its passage. 



