THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 
Published Quarterly by the 
ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY 
Roosevelt Road and Lake Shore Drive, Chicago 5, Ill. 
Number 126 June, 1963 
THE PRESIDENT’S PAGE 
By Raymond Mostek 
HOMES FOR A SONG 
Traveling the open road by motor car in the United States can be 
an exhilarating and stimulating experience. This country is so broad, so 
beautiful, so free of guards and customs men at state boundaries, that one 
can travel for thousands of miles through hills, mountains, deserts and 
lakelands, and only regret that he does not have time to see it all. Yet, 
travel by highway can be depressing indeed to the sensitive soul who 
tries to see his country through a maze of billboards, signs, and third-rate 
snack shops. Nowhere else in this world do citizens permit such despoliation 
of highways by billboard interests. Nowhere else does scenery take second 
place to signboards as in the U.S.A. Only 17 states have taken advantage 
of a federal law which gives a state a “bonus” if it enacts legislation to 
limit signboards along its new interstate highway system. Illinois is not 
one of those states. 
It is a pity that those who 
cry for “state’s rights” have to 
be “bribed” to overcome the bill- 
board lobby. It is a pity, too, 
that more roadside establishments 
have not seen the wisdom of 
ranking beauty over billboards. 
However, it is most encouraging 
to find more and more motels, 
restaurants, and even gas stations 
using flower and plant arrange- 
ments to entice some trade. The 
public is also becoming more 
sophisticated and discriminating. 
Some people in the tourist 
trade have shown imagination in 
luring travelers to their establish- 
ments and also benefiting wild- 
life. An excellent example of this 
is the beautiful Rock City Gar- 
dens, atop Lookout Mountain in 
north Georgia. Located near Chat- 
tanooga, Tennessee, this ten-acre 
tourist attraction has advertised its business on 2,700 bird houses within 
a 150-mile radius of Rock City. Each year crews travel up and down the 
highways, making sure that the bird houses are in good shape. The insides 
of the houses are sprayed to prevent disease. Martins and other songbirds 
are the most frequent occupants, although starlings sometimes make inroads. 
Par 
