XVI 
THE GOULD LEAGUE OF BIRD LOVERS 
Rules were compiled, a scheme of work outlined, and a certificate 
was designed and issued to members. This certificate, tinted in green 
and illustrated with drawings of birds, bore the following Bird Lovers' 
Pledge to be signed by members: 
“I hereby promise to protect all birds except those that are 
noxious, and to refrain from the unnecessary collection of wild 
birds' eggs." 
Since then the League has spread and nourished, till today it is 
one of the powers for good in the land, with a membership of six 
hundred thousand. Bird Day has become one of our annual red-letter 
days. Literary competitions and Bird-call competitions express and 
keep alive the interest and enthusiasm of members. 
Planted in a country school, the Gould League's roots have spread 
to every school in the State, and from those schools and the idealism 
of their teachers, mainly, the Gould League has drawn its inspiration 
and its strength. A Bird-life Supplement to the Education Gazette , 
containing bird photographs and information on the study of bird-life, 
was issued in October 1911 to celebrate Bird Day; and that good 
work has been continued from year to year. No finer thing has come 
out of our schools than this league of Bird Lovers. 
Among those whom the League delight to honour three especially 
are acclaimed; the young idealist who sowed the seed, the older 
idealist who with him nurtured the young plant, and another whose 
care for it in later years has been rewarded by a tree in whose branches 
the birds of our land flourish in comparative peace and safety. 
One takes off one’s hat to Walter Finigan, Edward Webster, and 
Harold Wynne Hamilton. 
