4 T HE A-U’D UB O(N BU DL Ehsan 
The need is great, too, for more information about dove populations— 
breeding counts, midsummer censuses, area surveys. When next we clash 
with the Conservation Department, we must be able to say: “This is what 
our records show; where are your facts?” 
In the final analysis, the battle cannot be won until we defeat the enemy 
in his own stronghold—the State Department of Conservation. Once and 
for all, this body should be taken out of politics. The Conservation Director 
should be a trained biologist, someone who understands and believes in con- 
servation—not a political favorite who seeks only to increase the “take” for 
the hunter and fisherman, w:th no regard for the future. We should write 
our governor and state representatives, and keep on writing them, that the 
Conservation Director and his assistants should be appointed on the basis 
of merit rather than political expediency, and that the reorganization plan 
proposed in the recently defeated bill should be carried out. 
Illinois is truly a conservation desert; but if we work to undo the harm 
that has been done, to protect the Mourning Dove and other songbirds, to 
restore our wasted natural resources, we can make that desert bloom again. 
4835 Wabansia Avenue, Chicago 39 
f ft ft 
Audubon Bird Calls Available 
THE SOCIETY is pleased to announce that it has obtained a supply of the 
“Audubon Bird Calls” for sale to members and their friends. These little 
cylinders of wood, with a metal handle, emit a high-pitched squeaking sound 
when twisted that attracts birds from amazing distances. Your Editor tried 
one of these gadgets while on a recent mountain trip, and succeeded in 
bringing nuthatches, juncos, creepers, a Western tanager, robins, and 
several species of warblers within close range. 
We have been permitted to sell these calls at a club rate of $1.25 each, 
which is lower than the price asked in downcown Chicago stores. The Bird 
Calls should prove useful in checking on the confusing fall warblers, or will 
make welcome Christmas gifts for your bird-loving friends. See our adver- 
tisement on the inside back cover of this Bulletin. The Bird Calls may be 
ordered directly from our Treasurer, Mr. John Helmer, 847 Ridge Avenue, 
Evanston, Illinois. 
ft ft ft 
Correction, Please! 
The June, 1953 issue of the Bulletin, in the article on the Annual Meeting 
and Field Trip, page 7, erroneously listed Mrs. E. L. Swain as “Program 
Chairman and Field Trip Leader.” Actually, the field trips were capably 
led by Mr. Peter C. Petersen, Jr., of Davenport, Iowa. This included both 
the trip around Credit Island on Saturday morning, April 18, and the next 
day’s journey along the Mississippi to the Palisades. We regret that this 
error found its way into our report. 
ft ft ff 
