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young person, using Dr. R. M. Strong, honorary president of the Society, 
as an example. As a young man Dr. Strong frequented the Milwaukee 
Museum from its opening in 1884. He went on to take his doctorate at 
Harvard, has been on the faculties of 10 schools, and has retained his in- 
terest in nature throughout his life. 
Milton Mahlburg, director of the Rockford Natural History Museum, 
told how it is housed in an old mansion on Rockford’s “Gold Coast” with 
the Rock river in its back yard. It is run very informally, and most of the 
youngsters in town make use of it. The Museum contacts the schools, 
especially the rural ones, and through it several nature clubs have been 
formed — the North Central Illinois Ornithological Society, a gem and 
mineral society, and an archaeology society. It has sponsored Screen Tours 
for 10 years, and the bird collection includes 1,400 specimens, some of them 
Herbert Stoddard’s work. 
Miss Cecilia E. Peikert, director of the Museum at Illinois State Normal 
University, pointed out that the institution is a part of the university. Al- 
though its first responsibility is to the students and faculty, it does try to 
be of service to the public in many ways. It works with students from 
kindergarten through graduate school, including student teachers. The 
museum has a collection of mounted birds, some mammals, and displays on 
prehistoric life, rocks and minerals, shells, ete. 
Reporting on the Illinois State Museum at Springfield, Milton Thompson, 
assistant director, noted that museums in general are changing tremendous- 
ly. State-supported ones are relatively few, especially in the natural history 
field. The museum now has larger attendance in a year (1 million) than 
the Detroit Tigers, he said. Tours are offered with members of the Junior 
League acting as guides. Special programs on Saturday mornings attract 
1,100 to 1,300 students. The State Museum has a school loan program, 
reaching 60,000 students a month; the traveling museum, in a trailer, 
visits rural communities; and the publication, ‘Living Museum,” is sent to 
39,000 a month. 
Mrs. Pauline Esdale presided to introduce Dr. Thomas G. Scott of the 
Illinois State Natural History Survey, who gave a report of its history. It 
began in 1858 with the founding of the Natural History Society and Mu- 
seum, and later became the State Laboratory of Natural History. In 1885 
it was moved from Normal to Urbana. In 1917 the laboratory and the office 
of state entomologist were combined into the Natural History Survey, with 
Dr. Stephen A. Forbes as chief. Dr. Scott traced its expansion and paid 
special tribute to Dr. Forbes. In 1880, for example, he said that annihila- 
tion of predators would have no effect on numbers of prey. 
Dr. Forbes also was an authority on the insect food of birds. He carried 
out the first systematic bird censuses. He found an average of 852 birds 
per square mile in the state in summer. Areas of highest bird populations 
were orchards, with 3,943 per square mile, and yards and gardens, with 
3,418. Dr. Richard Graber is attempting to duplicate some of this early 
work and compare figures. Dr. Forbes found 520 birds per square mile in 
the winter of 1906-07; Graber found 1,469 in 1957. In 1907, summer, 
Forbes counted 644 birds per square mile; Graber counted 1,403. 
