PHE AUDUBON BULLETIN 17 
form of a cabin in the wilderness, that they could call their own. This 
was made possible by the generosity of one of their own directors and was 
dedicated in June. It is in reality a very simple but comfortable club 
house. Here the huge fireplace keeps alive the traditions of the Society, 
and the surroundings are beautiful characteristic dune country. 
Recently the society has published a third edition of its “Park and 
Forest Policy for Illinois,’ with a number of revisions and some addi- 
tional material included. Its unique pictorial map shows the State Parks 
and also the scenic areas proposed as State Parks by the F. N. L. S. 
“The Purpose of the Organization” which is such a fine statement “is two-fold, first 
the cultivation in every individual of a more active pleasure in the world of the open; 
second the preservation for the people of today and for all future generations, of examples 
of native landscape types that are fast disappearing before the encroachments of industry— 
streams with their adjoining bluffs, and flood plains, woodlands of all kinds, dunes and 
prairies with their rare and marvellous floral carpets, ravines and canyons, ponds and 
swamps, and all places of beauty and interest that will tie the present and the future 
generations of Americans to the past, serve as playgrounds for the people and as sanctuaries 
for wild plant and animal life.” 
NATURE LORE INSTITUTE 
The Evanston Chapter of the Izaak Walton League held its second 
Annual Nature Lore Institute June first and second, nineteen twenty- 
nine. 
This interesting pioneer enterprise in nature study was held at Camp 
Reinberg in the Deer Grove Forest Preserve, under the leadership of Dr. 
William G. Vinal of the Western Reserve University. Dr. Vinal who is a 
teacher of ability is also a man of winning personality and great resource- 
fulness. In spite of extremely cold weather for June, an enthusiastic 
group listened to the lectures and attended the field trips. 
The assistant leaders included Dr. Warren G. Waterman, Botanist, 
Northwestern University; Prof. L. E. Hildebrand, Zoologist, New Trier 
High; and Mrs. Frederic H. Pattee, president of the Evanston Bird Club. 
Mrs. Pattee led bird walks and gave an illustrated talk on our common 
birds. 
Starlings in Chicago 
N JANUARY 10, 1930, I saw a flock of well over one hundred 
starlings which were hovering over a clay hole left by a brick 
company, on the corner of Narragansett Street and Grand Avenue. The 
birds were apparently attracted by the dumping of rubbish. These are 
the first starlings I have seen within the city limits of Chicago. 
I saw, however, a flock of about seventy-five birds in a barnyard 
about ten miles north of Des Plaines, Illinois, on December 1, 1929. The 
birds were feeding on dry bread and cake which had been thrown out 
to the hogs. The farmers told us they had seen the birds about for the 
past two years.—Earu G. Wricut, The Chicago Academy of Sciences. 
