36 THEAUDUBONBULLETIN 



a few years ago to serve as instructor in Geography and Nature Study at 

 Concordia Teachers' College, a Lutheran Normal School. At this institu- 

 tion he avails himself fully of the opportunity to point out to the future 

 teachers the value and importance of birds and the necessity of bird pro- 

 tection. He is an excellent field naturalist and his lectures are attractive 

 and stimulating. 



Mrs. J. M. Kavanagh is a prominent club woman of LaGrange, 111. 

 She has been a great force in that community and in other western suburbs 

 of Chicago in arousing interest in bird life. The past few years she has 

 conducted various bird classes. Her field observations and reports have 

 appeared in previous numbers of the Bulletin. 



Mr. Ranson Kennicott of Des Plaines, who holds the important posi- 

 tion of Forester for the Cook County Forest Preserve District, comes from 

 a family noted for its deep interest in nature. His grandfather, Dr. Ken- 

 nicott at one time edited the Prairie Farmer and served for a time as 

 curator of the Academy of Sciences. His uncle, Robert Kennicott, was 

 one of the earlier ornithologists of this country. He went on three scien- 

 tific expeditions to Arctic regions, his death occurring while the last expe- 

 dition was in progress. Reference to Mr. Ranson Kennicott's work 

 appears elsewhere in the report upon the work of the Forest Preserve 

 District of Cook County. 



Mrs. A. B. Porter has long been active in the work of the Illinois 

 Humane Society. It is because of this activity that the police officials in 

 Evanston came to consult her about violation of bird laws. A farmer from 

 Niles Center pounced upon an offender who had in his bag twenty or more 

 robins, flickers, and bluebirds, and brought him into Evanston and turned 

 him over to the police. Mrs. Porter was called up and she readily swore 

 out the warrant for the man's arrest. His two associates were later on 

 convicted and received a heavy fine, and out of this two other cases were 

 brought to notice and successfully prosecuted. From the published re- 

 ports of Mrs. Porter's activities, the Board of Directors of the Illinois 

 Audubon Society rightly concluded that she would be a valuable member 

 of that Board. 



Mr. Paul B. Riis, Superintendent of City Parks at Rockford, is a leader 

 in nature "tudy and field excursions in that city. He has been influential in 

 the founding of the Rockford Nature Study Club. He and his associates 

 are preparing a check list of the birds in that area which will be issued as 

 one of the publications of the Nature Study Club. 



The Chicago Ornithological Society 



To such members of the Illinois Audubon Society who, beside wishing 

 to learn how to protect and attract birds, also have a desire to learn to 

 know and study birds in their natural haunts, and for this purpose would 

 like to meet some congenial spirits, the Chicago Ornithological Society may 

 be pointed out as an organization in which such desires may be realized. 

 This club was organized about seven years ago by Dr. R. M. Strong, then of 

 Chicago University, and in one of the lecture rooms in the anatomy build- 

 ing of this great institution the meetings were held during the first years. 

 To accommodate members from the north and west sides, the meetings are 

 now held in the loop district, as a rule in the city office of a member. The 

 membership is not large — it must seem strange that a society of this kind 

 finds so little support in so large a city as Chicago — but what it lacks in 



