48 THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 
Rodésrd 
The Nature Study Society of Rockford, Illinois, with its membership 
of 35, has continued its work of bird and wild flower conservation. ‘This 
year early in the Spring a plea to farmers not to burn brush piles until 
after nesting time was put in the daily papers with the hope that some 
would heed it and many young birds would be saved. 
The regular meetings held on the first Saturday of each month have 
been well attended and interesting in character, many new places having 
been visited. In May the Society went by bus to “Wychwood,” a bird 
and wild flower sanctuary at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Upon the death of 
Mr. Chas. Hutchinson who owned the estate, it was endowed and turned 
over to the State of Wisconsin as a bird and wild flower sanctuary, Mrs. 
Hutchinson to have life use of it as her summer home. It is a very inter- 
esting place to visit especially in the Spring, as many of the rare wild 
flowers are growing there and 108 kinds of birds find protection and 
nesting places. 
As usual the Society took part in the annual Christmas bird census. 
Ten members went out in three groups covering the territory northwest, 
northeast and southwest of the city, rounding up at noon at Macktown 
Forest Preserve for a steak fry and comparison of lists. The list of birds 
seen was as follows: 26 Goldfinches, 36 Tree Sparrows, 11 Red-bellied 
Woodpeckers, 3 Red-headed Woodpeckers, 3 Hairy Woodpeckers, 5 
Downy Woodpeckers, 2 Rough-legged Hawks, 1 Sparrow Hawk, 1 Fish 
Hawk, 12 Blue Jays, 1 Mourning Dove, 7 Titmice, 5 Cedar Waxwings, 
1 Kingfisher, 1 Wilson’s Snipe, 50 Juncos, 11 Quail, 8 Starlings, 26 Chick- 
adees, 2 Cardinals, 500 Crows, 100 English Sparrows. 
During the Spring Miss Edith Van Duzer, one of our most enthu- 
silastic bird students, is in the field at least two half days a week. In 
addition her home is near Rock River, so she sees many water birds, and 
the birds following watercourses in migration literally come to her door 
step. Each week during the Spring she writes for the Sunday paper under 
the title of “Birds of the Week” a description of birds seen and their 
characteristics. She has by far the longest bird list of anyone in this 
vicinity, and it is this list with a few additions that makes up our bird 
list for the year. his year it contains 204 kinds. 
‘The Society holds its membership in the National and State Audubon 
Societies and in the Illinois Academy of Sciences. In April it planted a 
white spruce on one of the school grounds in commemoration of the Wash- 
ington bicentennial. It also presented a bird chart and the year’s copies of 
Bird-Lore to the Crippled Children’s Room and gave to the Jack Miner 
Fund for feeding wild geese. 
