Nov. 16, 1912 
FOREST AND STREAM 
(525 
posing on a bed of moss and feathers. I left the 
parents in possession of their treasures, what 
though ornithologists offered fabulous prices for 
a set of the bird’s eggs. I could not bring myself 
to disturb the housekeeping for a mere matter of 
dollars. I could hardly see where the cause of 
science would be advanced by my committing- 
burglary. 
It is hardly probable that you will ever see 
the dwarf screech owl even were you to visit 
the country where they dwell. To discover one 
requires sharp eyes and a certain knowledge of 
the habits of birds. This owl does not resemble 
his Eastern cousin either in looks or manners. 
While the Eastern bird is familiar, living near 
farms and even villages, the Western owl seeks 
the immense solitudes, far from settlements of 
For the Protection of Nature. 
BY GEORGIANNA KLINGLE HOLMES. 
The La Rue Holmes Nature Lovers’ League 
for the protection of nature was incorporated 
in 1906, and is doing an increasingly beneficent 
work, especially among the young. 
It has been erroneously said that the move¬ 
ment was instituted by the mother of the young 
naturalist whose name it bears, but it existed 
before the death of the latter and was only con¬ 
tinued, and the name given after this demise, by 
those who became responsible for the further 
conduct of the work. 
The membership, which exists chiefly in 
schools, has reached over 9,000, the organization 
being so simple, and the requirements so amen¬ 
able to possibilities that it is received in the 
busiest of public, private and parochial schools. 
The league motto is—self-sacrifice, heroism 
for another. Its corner stone of sentiment is— 
kindness to all things having life. Its reason for 
being is—to help make the world happy. Among 
the ways proposed for accomplishing the latter 
purpose is the protection of nature’s riches 
through which alone the health, happiness and 
general prosperity of this country can be main¬ 
tained. 
The mission of bird life as a protector of 
vegetation, the especial mission of tree life as 
a protector of the country’s water supply, the 
mission of our wild flora as a means of uplifting 
pleasure to poor and rich alike are themes im¬ 
pressed constantly upon the minds of the young 
through lectures, leaflets and tramps for obser¬ 
vation in woods and meadow. 
To quote some items of work done as given 
in last report: 
Blanks for wild flora census given out.... 234 
Packages of garden seeds distributed, about .70000 
Books, pamphlets, leaflets, etc.35.900 
Bird pictures .12,276 
Many books and periodicals were loaned. 
Some hundreds of petitions and circular letters 
were sent out in the interest of the Burton Act 
for the preservation of Niagara Falls; the Ap¬ 
palachian and White Mountain bill; the plumage 
hill; bill for. game protection; the hawk and 
men. The Eastern bird is noisy, while the West¬ 
ern is silent save for the one note which is the 
most musical sound I ever heard. Instead of 
the flat face and prominent ear tufts of the 
screech owl, the Western bird has a round head 
and face with eyes set so near the top of the head 
that he has the appearance of always gazing at the 
stars, while ear tufts are very small, being raised 
only in anger or excitement. The dwarf owl has 
a blackish band extending from just behind the 
ears, around and under the throat, which gives 
him a ludicrous resemblance to an old lady with 
a black silk bonnet with the strings tied beneath 
her chin. He is much smaller than the Eastern 
bird, being not over six inches in length. The 
back is a rusty brown, breast and under parts 
lighter with umber-brown streaks. 
owl bill, etc., when the bills were before Con¬ 
gress or the New Jersey Legislature. 
Mere assent to become nature’s friend is re¬ 
quired of the young people who thereby become 
associate junior members. The payment after¬ 
ward of any trifle in money for a badge or to¬ 
ward maintaining the cause constitutes a sus¬ 
taining junior member. 
Committees of three are chosen in each 
school room, such committees to represent the 
league cause and to place in sight, on the first 
school day of each month, the league day card, 
which bears the motto and serves as a mute re¬ 
minder of league sentiment. 
The work is administered by a central or¬ 
ganization, located at Summit, N. J., with power 
to create chapters in any State. 
In 1907 the league purchased an island of 
150 acres off the coast of Cape May county, near 
Stone Harbor, N. J., a nesting place of laughing 
gulls and other shore birds, a warden being in 
charge of the refuge. This island had been the 
scene of barbarous slaughter among the gulls 
to supply the heartless demand by women for 
the plumage of the gulls, and had not protection 
been given, the colony would long ago have 
ceased to exist, so nearly was this the case that 
only a few hundreds remained. Under protec¬ 
tion the birds have greatly increased in num¬ 
bers. In the month of May the multitudes of 
gulls building, brooding or hovering over their 
nests presents a most interesting spectacle to 
bird lovers. 
The value of the league work among the 
young is universally recognized by school prin¬ 
cipals as a moral as well as a protective agency, 
and the progress of the movement is held in 
check only because of the lack of funds to pay 
for competent workers to spread the gospel of 
protection broadcast over our Sfates. 
While men of science are paid for service 
in their respective fields, the aggresive work has 
so far been done entirely for love of the cause 
•—the organizing and interesting the young 
through earnest talks from high school to kin¬ 
dergarten, all of which has been done without 
cost for service. 
The movement is practically at a standstill, 
as far as aggressive steps are concerned, for 
the want of means to put workers in the field. 
The school doors are open and the calls for ser¬ 
vice come from many sides, but without increase 
of income the possibilities lie chiefly within al¬ 
ready established lines. 
The executive officers are as follows: Presi¬ 
dent, Waldron De Witt Miller, Museum of Natu¬ 
ral History, New York City; First Vice-Presi¬ 
dent, P. E. M. VanWyck, Summit, N. J.; Sec¬ 
ond Vice-President, Alfred C. Kinsey, South 
Orange, N. J.; Treasurer and Recording Secre¬ 
tary, Captain Geo. S. Musgrave, Summit, N. J.; 
General Secretary. Mrs. Benj. P. Holmes, Sum¬ 
mit, N. J. 
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ON SUMMIT OF MT. TAMALPAIS, CALIFORNIA. 
Photograph by Mary C. Beecroft. 
