40 THE AUDUBON BULUE Ei 

Items From Decatur 
/ | ‘HE Decatur Bird and Tree Club has elected the following officers: 
President—Mr. C. W. MontGoMERY 
Vice-President—Mrs. H. D. SpENCER 
Secretary—Miss RinniE BEAN 
Treasurer—Mnrs. C. A. IMBoDEN 
Funtor Superintendent—Mrs. BENJAMIN BACHRACH 
Every Saturday a different school publishes its bird notes in the 
evening paper. Never yet has any school contribution been without its 
bird news. The schools are affiliated with the Bird and Tree Club. The 
Welfare Home is a school for delinquent girls. The schools co-operate 
with our homes for civic responsibilities. 
Here are a few of the amusing and interesting things that happen 
to a bird lover: 
Finding dead birds on her doorstep. 
Children bringing sick and injured birds. 
One brought a baby English sparrow carefully tended in a box. (You 
can imagine what happened when the child left.) 
Inquiries come every day during the spring migration describing 
birds that never existed and only could in the imagination of one un- 
familiar with birds. 
Request to band a lame waterbird. 
Request to band a caged canary. 
The older boys come to ask about game laws, and the children ab- 
sorb every word of the stories that are told them about the birds and the 
necessity for their protection and conservation. 
Children come from all over the city to see the bird houses and learn 
how to make and place them. Many ‘people ask about bird fountains, 
ask to borrow field glasses, and request information as to how to present 
the bird work before the State Parent-Teacher’s Convention. 
I try to find time for everyone interested, no matter how urgent 
other duties may be. —ELEANORE S. BACHRACH. 
At the Forks of the Road: Real Preservation 
or Annihilation 
To Aut Eprrors: 
Permit me to say to you, speaking briefly and without noting excep- 
tions, that the American people of the 48 states are guilty of great folly 
in permitting their game birds and mammals to be slaughtered as game- 
slaughter now is going on. If you cannot believe this now, twenty years 
hence your sons wi//believe it, and regretit. The turning point has arrived. 
