34 
JULY, 1820. 
The Foreign Bird Club. 
Notice to Members. 
IMPORTANT: Late Issuic of Journal, etc. — The Hon. Editor much 
regTcts this, and though he, and not the printer, is at fault, nevertheless, the 
circumstances are mostly beyond his control. 
Members of F.B.C. fail to recognise that the officials who serve the 
club are all honorary, and willingly so because of their interest in its welfare — 
t'lere are two or three phases in which th's is particularly noticeable, viz : 
(1) There are fully one hundred members, who annuall)', decline to pay 
their subscriptions till they have received one or more postal applications from 
the Honorary Secretary. This not only involves unnecessary waste of club 
funds, but also a similar waste of See's time and patience, and, if. in the end, 
the club should find itself without a Secretary surely they will not be 
surprised ! 
(2) Copy has been short and very late in coming in, consequently B.N. 
lias been late in appealing. The Hon. Editor cannot devote the whole of 
his time to B.N., even in any given one week, and this with copy late is what 
must be done if we are not to be behind time ; the latter has had to occu"-, 
and above all, under conditions of " rush," the preparation of B.N. cannot 
receive the attention it should, and, in consequence annoying errors mar its 
]jages, which otherwise would not appear. With our roll, we should be a 
month ahead with copy, then the editor's task would be a pleasure instead of 
almost a burden. 
While on this topic, we think we ought to state the case plainly. F.B.C 
is a Society publishing a Journal which is costly to produce, absorbing the 
whole of the annual subscriptions, even at the increased rate of 20s. per 
annum ; for, again this year cost of paper and labour has advanced — your 
officers periodically have heavy bills to meet. It must be obvious to everv 
member, who troubles to think at all, that unless subscriptions are paid with 
reasonable promptness the ultimate outcome can only be DISSOLUTION. 
We have lost many members from the war and its afterm.ath, but we 
are, nevertheless, if somewhat slowly, at least steadily increasing our member- 
ship. As to the future there should be no uncertainty ; it only remains for 
each member to do his, or her, individual part, viz : To pay subscriptions 
when due. i.e. on January ist of each year. To introduce new members as 
opportunity ofTers. To take their part in supplying copy for the Club 
Journal. 
We ask the careful consideration of the above by every member, and 
also their co-operation. Success and prosperity are assured, but if officials 
are left to do all, and there is general slackness among the members, on the 
lines indicated above, then there can be only one obvious ultimate issue, 
though the energy of successive officials may stave it off for quite a long time. 
SIDNEY WILLIAMS, Hon. Sec. and Treasurer. 
WESLEY T. PAGE. Hon. Editor. 
