JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



But perhaps the most important 

 work that has been accomplished by 

 the society was the passage by the 

 State Legislature last winter of a new 

 law for better bird protection. This 

 law was placed upon our statute 

 books as the result of our labors sole- 

 ly, and great credit is 'due our com- 

 mittee for their work in this direction. 

 Mr. Jed Frye Fanning of Portland, 

 drafted the bill. Mr. Dutcher. Treas- 

 urer of the A. O. U.. and Dr. Palmer 

 of the Biological Surrey at Washing- 

 ton came to Augusta to speak in its 

 behalf before 'the Legislative Com- 

 mittee to which it was referred. They 

 brought with them many beautiful 

 colored lantern slides of Maine Birds, 

 and Prof. Lee of Bowdoin College not 

 only furnished lantern but also ex- 

 hibited the slides to a large and ap- 

 preciative company in the evening. 

 Several members of the society ap- 

 peared before the committee and ably 

 seconded the work of Mr. Dutcher and 

 Dr. Palmer. 



We were fortunate in having on the 

 floor of the House two of our most 

 active and influential members. Leroy 

 T. Carlton of Winthrop and James 

 Carroll Mead of North Bridgton The 

 bill was passed without a dissenting 

 voice, and has already done much to 

 stop the ruthless slaughter of our in- 

 sectivorous, song and shore birds. I 

 know this to be a fact from personal 

 observation. * 



There is yet, however, one class of 

 people which has not learned of this 

 law. I refer to the milliners. Many 

 that I have talked with had not the 

 remotest idea that the sale of bird 

 skins was prohibited by law, and I 

 recommend that steps be taken to dis- 

 seminate more widely the fact that all 

 birds in our State with the exception 

 of crows, hawks, owls, and house 

 sparrows are protected by law. 



Another great work which is being 

 done by our society is the preparation 



of lantern slides bv ***■»»* L. A. Lee 

 from negatives of birds, nests and 

 eggs made by the members. Any mem- 

 ber of the society that will send him a 

 clear negative of an Ornithological 

 subject will receive from him in a 

 short time thereafter not only the 

 negative in good condition, but also a 

 finished lantern slide of the same. 

 The only stipulation made by Prof. 

 Lee is that he be allowed to retain 

 one copy in the form of a lantern 

 slide. 



As a result of this generous conduct 

 Prof. Lee now has in his possession 

 160 beautiful slides of Maine birds, 

 their nests and eggs. Moreover these 

 slides may be borrowed by any mem- 

 ber of the society who wishes to use 

 them for lecture purposes. To be sure 

 many of them are duplicates in this 

 respect that they are pictures of the 

 same species though not of the same 

 individual. But there are enough to 

 furnish a generous set for an evening's 

 entertainment. If this work should 

 continue for several years there would 

 then be enough slides on hand to illus- 

 trate the life history of many of our 

 common birds. The value of such a 

 collection to our society and to the 

 State at large cannot be told. Ex. 

 Pres. Knight has also made several 

 slides from his own negatives and 

 the exhibition of all these "slides has 

 become a most important feature of 

 our annual meeting. Representatives' 

 Hall was well filled for the Friday 

 evening lecture this year. I cannot too 

 strongly urge upon each and every 

 member of our society the value of 

 this work and the necessity for in- 

 dividual effort in this direction. 



The first edition of Mr. Knight's 

 "Birds of Maine" has long since been 

 exhausted. And though almost the en- 

 tiro edition was given away, so valu- 

 able have they proved to be and so 

 rare have they become that they are 

 now listed at $1.50 in paper covers. 



