8 
COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 
quickly the breeding birds will increase in number. I feel that the 
most important feature that Canada can take up in the matter 
of wild life protection is the guarding of wild ducks, geese and shore- ) 
birds. I shall be very glad to go into details on the matter of ways 
and means should the Commission later desire to have me do so. 
We would, I suppose, all agree that the general education of the ,» 
public in any desired line of reform is the surest way to get lasting 
results in the long run. The National Association of Audubon 
Societies has long worked on this principle. For the past few years 
we have engaged in a systematic work of organizing the school-children 
into classes for bird-study and bird-protection. The children each 
pay a fee of 10 cents and receive material which costs us much more 
than that to publish and place in their hands. This consists of a 
series of excellent coloured pictures of birds, together with outline 
drawings wTich the children, by means of water-colours or crayons, 
can fill in and thus fasten in their minds the correct colouring of 
various birds. The children also receive a very pretty bird-button 
bearing the words “Audubon Society.” To the teacher who forms 
a class of ten or more, and sends in their fees to the New York office, 
there is forwarded, without cost, a year’s subscription to the magazine 
Bird-Lore and other printed instructions on the subject of bird- 
study. During the past year about 150,000 children were organized 
into classes of this kind in the United States. 
Representing the Association, I am very glad to offer to extend 
this opportunity to the children of Canada, and shall be very glad 
if the Commission of Conservation should feel like co-operating by 
assisting in bringing this matter to the attention of the various school 
authorities. 
As a further indication that there is nothing of a commercial 
character about this proposition, I may add that this work last year 
cost us at the rate of 26 cents for each child enrolled. For the present 
school-year we have at our disposal a fund of $26,000 to use in this 
work, and I shall be very happy to share the advantages of the plan 
with the children of Canada. 
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