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Mr. Hiram Piper of Princeton gave us a hilarious report on his birding 
trip of last winter which took him to Arizona and wound up in Florida with 
watching Eagle Man Charles Broley band young bald eagles in nests 10 
feet tall and 70 feet above the ground. Mr. Lorey Stowe of Tiskilwa showed 
some mounted specimens of birds he had collected for a youth education 
project. Anne Douglas (Mrs. John Bayless) told some of the tribulations 
and pleasures of writing a weekly bird column for the Chicago Tribune as 
a sideline to her other work on home and furnishings news. 
Robert Rulison and Brother Theodore, F.S.C., both of the Evanston Bird 
Club, discussed birding areas around Chicago and distributed a pamphlet 
they had prepared, listing the best spots with directions for getting there 
and what to look for at particular times of the year. 
Dr. R. E. Yeatter, I.A.S. director and game specialist in the State Natural 
History Division, Urbana, described the status of the prairie chicken in 
Illinois, and the prospects for its survival, which he pronounced good in some 
areas. Its greatest concentration continues to be in a two or three-county 
area around Effingham, where redtop grass is still grown in some quantity. 
Redtop is mowed later than most other hay, giving the bird nesting protec- 
tion until its young are able to fend for themselves. 
Mr. Milton Thompson, assistant director of the Illinois State Museum, 
gave an inspiring talk on “Outdoor Education: Relation to Adult Groups 
and Conservation.” It is his belief that adult groups devoted to nature ap- 
preciation of any kind do a lot more than they realize in setting an example 
which younger persons follow; the fact that you go boldly forth with bin- 
oculars, ignoring the jibes of cartoonists, impresses more people than you 
realize with the value: of nature study. He reported a steady increase in 
nature interest, exemplified by growing attendance at museums, state and 
national parks, and in other ways. 
Music at the banquet was provided by Mrs. Dyke, who was revealed as 
a composer and song writer, at the piano; Mrs. Keith Soderberg, soprano, 
and Miss Peggy Paden, who whistled bird songs. 
Mr. Philip DuMont, the speaker of the evening, was introduced by Mr. 
Helmer. He told of his trip. to Midway Island at the request of the U.S. 
Navy to study the possibility of resettling the nesting gooneybirds, or al- 
batrosses. Their nests in turnaround space off the ends of airport runways 
interfered to some extent with flying activities, and a few birds had col- 
lided with planes. Efforts were made to get the birds to nest on another 
island, but to no avail. Mr. DuMont said that although no solution was 
found, the problem probably will resolve itself in time as Midway becomes 
less important as a refueling stop with the new, longer range planes. 
The next morning, those who had stayed over set out on field trips. The 
most popular was one in which we were taken in boats from Hennepin on 
the Illinois river to a rookery of egrets, great blue herons, and _ black- 
crowned night herons. Visitors were able to see fledgling egrets in the nest 
and many took slides and movies. Other groups went on other trips, and at 
12:30 all met for picnic lunch in Mr. Harry Thomas’ beautiful grove. At 
this time a combined bird list for the day was totaled by Mr. Fawks, who 
reported 100 species seen. These included such rarities as the little blue 
