THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 



SPRING, 1916 



Published by the 



ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY 



(For the protection of wild birds) 

 Greetings from the President of the Illinois Audubon Society 



To the members of the 

 Illinois Audubon Society. 



The Directors of the Audubon Society long ago realized that its mem- 

 bers who have so generously supported it from year to year, have had no 

 way of knowing how the income of the Society has been spent except 

 through the reports of its officers which have been read at the annual 

 public meeting in May. It was recognized that while the real activities 

 of the Society would naturally be determined and controlled by the Di- 

 rectors, the members should have a more definite knowledge of how the 

 bird conservation work has been carried on and with what measure of 

 success. . Accordingly the Directors have committed the Society to the 

 publishing of stated bulletins which shall give the activities of the Society 

 publicity, as well as contain items of interest to bird lovers, notes on the 

 status of both State and Federal laws for bird conservation and protection, 

 and any bird news of importance from other organizations, State or Na- 

 tional, that have the same object as the Illinois Audubon Society. 



It is planned to publish three a year, a Spring Bulletin, an Autumn 

 Bulletin, and a Winter Bulletin. 



This Spring Bulletin for 1916 is the maiden issue. It is hoped that 

 through it and the succeeding bulletins the Illinois Audubon Society will 

 be able to create a wider interest in bird life, increase its membership and 

 resources, and furnish a center of influence for the work of bird conserva- 

 tion in Illinois. 



There are doubtless many bird lovers who would be willing to assist 

 materially in organized work of this kind who are not even aware of the 

 fact that there is an Illinois State Audubon Society and that it has been 

 more or less actively at work for eighteen years. This is explainable in 

 large part by the Society's limited resources and inadequate means of 

 publicity. However the Directors are willing to admit a measure of re- 

 sponsibility for the somewhat limited role the Society has hitherto played. 

 They realize that theirs should have been a wider appeal, and that they 

 have not been quite courageous enough to assume for the Society the 

 leadership which its name and its position entail. Let us hope that this 

 bulletin and those which are to follow will serve to foster a truly state- 

 wide organization and help to make possible whenever necessary, a union 

 for efficient effort of the Illinois State Audubon Society and all organiza- 

 tions of similar aims in the state. 



