ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY 



29 



THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 



WINTER 1916-1917 



Published by the 



ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY 



For the Conservation of Bird-Life 



COMMITTEE 

 ON PUBLICATION 



JESSE LOWE SMITH, Chairman 



Highland Park. 



EVERETT L. MILLARD 



69 W. Washington St., Chicago. 



MRS. C. E. RAYMOND 



Hinsdale. 



MISS CATHERINE A. MITCHELL 



Riverside. 



MRS. FREDERIC H. PATTEE 



Evanston. 



MR. O. M. SCHANTZ 



10 S. La Salle St., Chicago. 



MR. FREDERIC H. PATTEE 



226 W. Madison St., Chicago. 



LOOKING FORWARD 



Looking forward, for one thing, to 

 the Audubon Bulletin for Spring, 1917! 

 The Spring, 1916, Bulletin came out so 

 late that some of the readers for whom 

 it was intended had set about their sum- 

 mer vacations ! We had unfortunate ex- 

 periences with that Bulletin and some 

 more of the same kind with the one now 

 in our readers' hands, but we have prof- 

 ited by all this and we think we can 

 safely promise the next Bulletin on 

 time. We are now more certain of 

 the problems in preparing the Bulletins. 

 We believe more help will be available 

 and that more resources will be at hand 

 for the coming year. 



H 5 H< sfc 



The problems? Well, one of the hard- 

 est ones is to uncover even a fraction of 

 the lights that, so far as the Publication 

 Committee is concerned, are hidden away 

 under bushels. There are many good 

 deeds done in Illinois in an Audubon 

 way which we would like to set forth in 

 the Bulletin, but our intelligence depart- 

 ment is not sufficiently well equipped 

 to catch their glow. The Bulletin itself 

 is the supreme effort of the Illinois 



Audubon Society to see how far its little 

 candle can throw its beams, and it some- 

 times seems that the metaphor of the 

 light and the bushel applies to it also. 

 For note what follows. During the nearly 

 twenty years of the existence of the Illi- 

 nois Audubon Society, practically all of 

 its directors' meetings have been held in 

 Chicago. Its annual meetings have all 

 taken place there (in recent years at the 

 Art Institute), and the daily papers have 

 noticed the event and given space to 

 comment upon the open lectures. Yet it 

 is a not infrequent occurrence that right 

 in Chicago, the Illinois Audubon Society 

 and some newly organized association 

 with an almost identical program, discover 

 each other and are mutually surprised 

 at the other's existence ! No harm is 

 done, of course, since the field is big 

 enough for all comers, but we should 

 be permitted to remark that if the bushel 

 obscures the light (of the Illinois Audu- 

 bon Society) so near at hand, how dim 

 it must appear, say, at Danville or Cen- 

 tralia ! 



More publicity, that's all, and more, 

 many more members! The Bulletin must 

 have more readers and contributors in 

 Chicago and Danville and Centralia and 

 at all other strategic points in Illinois. 

 (All places in Illinois are equally strate- 

 gic, if not more so). The Society must 

 find active workers to represent various 

 portions of the state on the Board of 

 Directors. Not only must we secure in- 

 dividual memberships, but we must en- 

 deavor to enroll on our membership list 

 every organization whose interest we 

 can represent. This means women's clubs, 

 conservation leagues, garden clubs, nature 

 study clubs, boy scout organizations, 

 campfire girls, etc. It would be fine 

 indeed if every school had a member- 

 ship and at least one wide-awake pupil 

 to serve as our special agent and reporter. 



>£ H< 5fc 



Let us get behind every movement for 

 state parks, bird refuges, forest preserves, 

 etc. As pointed out elsewhere the birds 



