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THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 



THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 



WINTER 1919 



Published by the 

 ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY 

 For the Conservation of Bird-life 



COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATION 



Jesse LoweSmith Chairman 

 Roy M. Langdon Miss Catherine Mitchell 



Miss Mary Drummond Mr. O. M. Schantz 



Mrs. Frederic H. Pattee Mr. Frederic H. Pattee 



From several sources come expres- 

 sions favoring some form of publica- 

 tion under state auspices which will 

 give the departments of our state 

 government concerned with the con- 

 servation of natural resources an 

 opportunity to set forth their accom- 

 plishments and to arouse public in- 

 terest in an extension of their fields 

 for effort. This would concern espe- 

 cially the division of Game and Fish, 

 Ralph T. Bradford, Chief Warden, 

 and the Department of Public Works 

 and Buildings of which Frank I. 

 Bennett is Director. A number of 

 states, notably California, Oregon, 

 Iowa and New York, publish bulle- 

 tins or quarterly reports in magazine 

 form advertising the work of the 

 Game and Fish commissions and 

 attempting to arouse in each locality 

 an interest in the protection of wild 

 life. The California publication, 

 issued from Sacramento, is entitled, 

 "California Fish and Game". The 

 motto printed on the front page is 

 "Conservation of Wild Life through 

 Education". The last number con- 

 sisting of fifty three pages, contains 

 six special articles with twenty-six 

 illustrations, together with excellent 

 editorials, a number of special 

 reports, etc. The publication must 

 surely be an inspiration to good 

 work on the part of wardens and 

 other officials and a source of great 

 interest to all lovers of out-of-doors 

 in the state. The editor of the 

 publication in question, has, at his 

 request, been placed on the mailing 

 list of the Illinois Audubon Society. 

 * * * 



What about such a publication for 

 Illinois? Surely Illinois can have 

 it if our officials and all of us who 

 are interested as well can get to- 



gether and can show that there is an 

 intelligent demand for it. The Illi- 

 nois Sportsmen's League has more 

 than once through its official publica- 

 tion expressed a great interest in the 

 matter. There will be several hun- 

 dred interested readers from the 

 ranks of that organization. The Ill- 

 inois Audubon Society will guarantee 

 many hundred more and the various 

 Audubon Societies and Nature Clubs 

 of Maywood, Elgin, Joliet, Rockford, 

 Rock Island, Alton, and scores of 

 places besides are to be reckoned 

 with. The right sort of publication 

 will find a large and enthusiastic con- 

 stituency "spring up over night." 

 * * * 



By way of constructive criticism, 

 let us see what the proposed publica- 

 tion could do to advance the pro- 

 gram to which the Illinois Audubon 

 Society is especially committed. 

 First of all it could report in detail 

 what the Division is doing to enforce 

 the laws relating to song and in- 

 sectivorous birds and it could set 

 forth the limitations in its work 

 necessitated by inadequate support 

 or cooperation or whatever that 

 might be. It could publish a direc- 

 tory revised to date of each issue of 

 all officials directly concerned with 

 this part of the work of the Division 

 so that any interested person could 

 readily find the name and address 

 of the nearest official. It could give 

 specific reports of activities so that 

 officials with meritorious records to 

 their credit might receive public 

 recognition. It could give special 

 attention to the part constables 

 might play in the enforcement of the 

 law. Each investigator or inspector 

 might be encouraged to organize 

 the constables in his district, and 

 wherever constables responded in 

 this specific way they might receive 

 deserved publicity. It could give 

 reports from the game preserves and 

 bird refuges in the state. The excel- 

 lent work of organizing bird refuges 

 inaugurated by the previous admin- 

 istration has apparently come to a 

 standstill under the present one. 

 The proposed publication could 

 explain the change in the situation. 

 It might contain special reports from 

 field agents of the Division sent out 

 to investigate areas that may well 

 be set apart for wild life protection 

 under the auspices of the state. In 

 this way the Division would have an 

 excellent chance to take the lead in 



