4 THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 



The National Association of Audubon Societies 



The annual report for 1920 of the National Association of Audubon 

 Societies impresses one as usual with the national import of the work of the 

 organization. Thirty-seven wardens were employed, two of these in Mich- 

 igan, the remainder on the coast from Maine to Louisiana. Seven field 

 agents through lectures, published articles, correspondence, and personal 

 work performed services of great value to the cause of wild-life protection. 

 These agents were E. H. Forbush for New England; William L. Finley 

 for the Pacific Coast; Winthrop Packard for Massachusetts; Mary S. 

 Sage for Long Island, New York; Arthur H. Norton for Maine; Frances 

 A. Hurd for Connecticut ; and Herbert K. Job, in charge of the Depart- 

 ment of Applied Ornithology. Two paragraphs from the report are here- 

 with reproduced. 



"In January, 1919, through the columns of Bird-Lore this association 

 first advised the public of the Eagle Bounty Law in operation in Alaska. 

 Since then we have continued to bulletin, from time to time, the results of 

 this measure. The last report from our representative in Alaska showed 

 that the official territorial records reveal the fact that bounties had already 

 been paid on the feet of 8356 eagles. Nor does this tell the entire story 

 of the appalling slaughter of the American eagle, for it should be borne in 

 mind that to collect the fifty cents bounty it is necessary to bring in the 

 feet to some territorial official and pay a fee for an affidavit to accompany 

 them before the bounty can be collected. Men who secure only one or 

 two eagles at a time, or who shoot their birds a very long distance from the 

 place where the bounty is paid, of course never report their killings. Fur- 

 thermore, many hundreds of eagles undoubtedly are wounded by gunfire 

 and escape in the wilderness to die later from their injuries. We have filed 

 the most vigorous protests against this law and for a time it appeared there 

 were prospects of getting it repealed by the territorial legislature, but the 

 latest reports are that a great majority of the people of the region, includ- 

 ing Governor Riggs, have such fixed ideas of the destructiveness of this bird 

 to fish and game that the Bounty Law is in no immediate danger." 



All previous records in the organization of Junior Audubon classes were 

 broken the past year. Before the spring had far advanced, the 200,000 

 sets of literature, bird pictures, and Audubon buttons prepared for the 

 entire year's work became exhausted. Eighty thousand sets of leaflets and 

 pictures' left over from previous years were brought out of storage and were 

 readily accepted by pupils and teachers in lieu of this year's material. By 

 the middle of May all possible sources of supplies had been exhausted and 

 regretfully we began returning to the disappointed children their ten-cent 

 fees. Our ever-generous and unknown benefactor again gave $20,000 to 

 this cause for the past year. With a total of $27,500 we enrolled and pro- 

 vided supplies to 280,963 children in the United States and Canada. 



The report shows that in Illinois 375 classes for children were organ- 

 ized with a membership of 12,960. The Illinois Audubon Society recog- 

 nizes with grateful appreciation the value of the work the National So- 

 ciety is doing within our state. It is the duty of the Illinois Society to 

 carry on the work thus initiated and in turn to urge upon the citizens of 

 our state adequate financial support for the National Society. 



