HeeieAvuel UB ON SB Uecl  BeleiN 3 
halls, and it was consequently difficult to get suitable rooms for meeting's 
which would be equally accessible to members living in various parts of the 
Chicago region. The University of Chicago is not centrally located, and in 
1916 it was decided to move to the Loop. For a few years meetings were 
held in the office reception rooms of two physician members, Doctor Lewy 
and another prominent physician, Dr. Frederick C. Test. There were other 
meeting places for short periods, including the office of the Cook County 
Forest Preserve. A small room at the John Crerar Library was used for 
most of the meetings from 1921 to 1938. In 1939 a larger room was needed 
and the policy of renting a hall was begun. 
Programs of meetings have usually included an address and reports of 
interesting observations and experiences. The June and September meet- 
ings have been devoted mostly to reports of field and banding operations. 
The Society does not meet during July and August. Conservation proposi- 
tions have been presented at a majority of the meetings, and in recent years 
a delegate to the Conservation Council has made monthly reports. 
It has always been a problem for the president to decide how much 
time to allow for reports of field operations, especially when the program 
included an address. There have been years when each member was invited 
in turn to report. A common practice in recent years has been for the 
president to give a place on the program for unusual or especially interest- 
ing observations or experiences. 
The Society published in 1942 a volume containing the results of an 
ecological study by one of its members: ‘“‘Nesting Birds and the Vegetation 
Substrate,” by William J. Beecher. 
fH fl ft 
A Naturalist on the Move* 
By VERNA R. JOHNSTON 
LEAVING Georgia’s red clay soil behind, we shut our eyes temporarily on all 
forest and prairie life and headed for the salt spray and eolian sand dunes 
of the Atlantic Ocean. Near Beaufort, North Carolina, we found them — 
on Pivers Island where the Biological Laboratory of the United States Fish 
and Wildlife Service is situated and where Duke University maintains a 
Marine Laboratory. Our three day stay there read like a chapter in a new 
and refreshing book, full of curious animal life and fascinating experiences. 
At low tide our first late afternoon, we boarded the U. S. Cutter “Sea 
Horse” and plowed through the rough surf for fifteen minutes to reach a 
small sand island — Bird Shoal. The boat dropped anchor in shallow water 
and we waded ashore, finding sand dollars on the bottom, clam and snail 
shells, some tropically colored, others bleached, thrilling at the sight of a 
sting ray whipping its pancake form from the sand bottom and gliding out 
of sight in deeper blue water. Ashore was bird life aplenty. One lone 
snowy egret stalked the far shore, shuffling its bright yellow feet to stir up 
food, leaving no doubt as to its identity. Two green herons fed in shallow 
*This is the concluding portion of Miss Johnston’s story of a five-week research 
expedition through the southeastern states. Earlier portions appeared in our September 
and December, 1944, issues. 
