FOREST AND STREAM 
589 
The Audubon Society 
Summary of Secretary’s Annual Report of the Past Year 
The chief nursery of the seabirds of the At¬ 
lantic Coast of the United States is among the 
islands off the coast of Maine. During the past 
summer thirty-five of these islands have been 
occupied by breeding colonies, not including sev¬ 
eral small ledges, where scattering pairs over¬ 
flowing from near-by colonies gather to nest. 
The Association has continued to exercise a 
guardianship, as usual, over these birds, to pro¬ 
tect them as far as possible from eggers, and 
from possible raids of Indians, who annually 
sell gulls’ wings in the towns of Nova Scotia. 
In addition to those watching the Maine colo¬ 
nies, the Association’s line of wardens extends 
southward along the coast, stationed at various 
places in Massachusetts, New York, and New 
Jersey. Three others are stationed in Florida, 
and two in Louisiana. These men are employed 
jointly with the Government to guard some of 
the Federal bird reservations of that southern 
territory. Colonies of birds at various points 
inland, notably on Moosehead Lake, Maine, and 
in Lake Michigan, are protected in like manner- 
When the colonies are small it is possible to 
determine with accuracy the extent of the bird- 
population. Where, however, many thousands 
of birds assemble on one of these rookery 
islands, any account given of their numbers must 
be more or less in the form of an estimate. 
For several years the Secretary has made it a 
point each season to visit a few, at least, of 
the guarded colonies. From observation made 
on these occasions, he feels justified in saying 
that the reports showing the numbers of breed¬ 
ing-birds is very conservative. 
Egret Protection. 
Quite aside from this general warden work, 
is our special effort for the protection of Egrets 
on behalf of which sixteen guards were employed 
during the past spring and summer. These 
colonies are situated in South Carolina, Geor¬ 
gia, and Florida. Egrets today are not sufficient¬ 
ly abundant to cause much embarrassment in 
determining the numbers that inhabit any par¬ 
ticular colony; especially has this been the case 
with those rookeries in Florida which have been 
personally visited by Oscar E. Bayard, our Su¬ 
pervising Warden for that State. During the 
past summer, Mr. Bayard spent many days strug¬ 
gling through these rookeries to count the occu¬ 
pied nests, and in doing so he was often forced 
to wade waist-deep in water infected with moc¬ 
casins, alligators and innumerable unpleasant in¬ 
sects, as the secretary can testify, after having 
accompanied him on one of these expeditions. 
In the eleven colonies of large Egrets protect¬ 
ed, and carefully guarded, in South Carolina, 
Georgia and Florida, we believe there were about 
5,ioo birds, while the count of Snowy Egrets 
in thirteen colonies, was, 2,375. With few ex¬ 
ceptions, Egrets were found in rookeries in¬ 
habited by numerous other wading-birds. Counts 
and estimates of these show Black-crowned 
Night Herons, 1,0555 Louisiana Herons, 6,200 
(in addition to those being cared for by the 
general warden force, above referred to); Ward’s 
Herons, 1,000; Green Herons, 800; Least Bit¬ 
terns, 700; Water Turkeys, 2,922; Purple Gal- 
linules, 1,500; Florida Gallinules, 2,000; Little 
Blue Herons, 7,076; White Ibis, 26,800; and Wood 
Ibis, 60,500. 
It is with special pleasure that we record the 
presence, in our protected colonies, of 160 Limp- 
kins and 147 Roseate Spoonbills scattered through 
five rookeries; also three pairs of the new ex¬ 
tremely rare Glossy Ibis. Other interesting 
birds that have had protection in these guarded 
nesting-groups, are Wood Ducks, Great Blue 
Herons, Swallow-tailed Kites, King Rails, Boat- 
tailed Grackles, Florida Redwings, Yellow- 
crowned Night Herons and Florida Dusky Dusks. 
Many of the estimates given above, particu¬ 
larly those in reference to the Wood Ibis, the 
Little Blue and the Louisiana Herons, are far 
beneath the true figures. I believe it very co 
servative to state that about 550,000 water-birds 
of various kinds received admirable protection 
from their human enemies during the nesting 
season of 1914, as a result of the watchful efforts 
of this Association. 
Junior Aububon Classes. 
Last year it was reported in these pages that 
52,000 children were enrolled in these classes- 
The school-year which closed July 1, 1914, re¬ 
vealed the fact that the growth this year has 
shown an increase over one hundred per cent. 
In the Southern States 19,121 children joined as 
Junior Members, and in the North 95,918, mak¬ 
ing a grand total for the year of 115,039 enrolled. 
Think what an army of young bird-students is 
being recruited each year, for everyone of these 
thousands has systematically studied the habits 
and activities of at least ten birds, has made 
colored drawings of them, and has worn the 
Audubon Button. 
The amount of labor devolving upon the of¬ 
fice-force in placing this subject before the 
teachers of the country, and later in supplying 
the teachers and pupils with leaflets, pictures 
and buttons, can be guessed only by those who 
have visited the offices of the Association. In 
this Junior endeavor we have during the past 
year enjoyed as heretofore the hearty co-opera¬ 
tion of many of the state societies, especially 
those of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecti¬ 
cut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and 
Florida. 
A New Department. 
Of late there has been growing rapidly a de¬ 
mand for exact information regarding the best 
methods of attracting birds about the home and 
on the farm, as well as incessant calls for in¬ 
formation as to proper means to be employed 
in rearing ducks, geese, pheasants, and other 
wild game-birds by artificial means. The Di¬ 
rectors felt that it would be well for the Asso¬ 
ciation to meet the needs called for by this new 
demand by employing some one to give all his 
