plan to announce the first day of school that you intend to intro¬ 
duce bird study. Such a course will arouse a storm of opposition. 
Start it very gradually after you have the school well under con¬ 
trol and no one will suspect an innovation until you have the 
pupils converted and the patrons realize the value in the added 
interest of the children in their school work. And remember that 
bird protection should be the keynote. 
The state laws protecting game and song birds should be 
discussed and better ones proposed. Spring shooting of migrants 
should be discouraged. Superstitions about birds should be 
exposed. Errors in popular ideas should be corrected. Preju¬ 
dices should be overcome, but truth must prevail. A love of 
the birds must not blind one to the fact that some are destruc¬ 
tive to the agricultural and horticultural interests of the state. 
A healthy sentiment in the schoolroom in favor of the birds will 
down the boy who shoots meadowlarks “just for fun,” and he 
will be an outcast until he reforms. 
I urge every member of the Audubon societies to think 
upon this matter and do something to encourage the study 
of birds in the schools. This is one of the objects for which the 
societies are founded, and yet I fear little has been done for the 
children of our public schools. Every year hundreds of boys 
and girls finish their studies and leave school, yet they know 
nothing of the value of birds. In their strivings to become 
real men and women they imitate the vices as well as the 
virtues of their elders and join the ranks of bird destroyers, 
the men for sport and pleasure, the women for decoration. As 
students of bird life and champions of bird protection our duty 
is plain. The school is the field and we are responsible for the 
harvest. What shall it be ? 
Information will be furnished regarding bird laws, bird charts, bird 
books for primary and advanced scholars, or bird study in schools, also 
method of organizing an Audubon Society by addressing 
Leaflet No. 2 WILLIAM DUTCHER 
June, 1902 Chairman, National Committee of 
Audubon Societies 
525 Manhattan Ave., New York City 
