Toe Ae eas BOON i BeUy Lal Beeb N ff 
If only they can hold their own against the starlings that often usurp 
their nests. 
April 29—Our best record was last. An osprey or fish hawk soared 
above the river well above the tree tops. Like a flash it disappeared, but 
its profile against the sky was the replica of that in Roger Tory Peterson’s 
“Field Guide.” 
Oak Park, Illinois. 
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A Flight of Cranes 
WHILE WALKING ACROSS the Dunes near Baileytown, Indiana, with Dr. and 
Mrs. and Miss Bacon and Mr. Kemp on April 2, Dr. Alfred Lewy heard 
calls from the air and when he looked up saw a flock of 14 cranes in their 
usual V formation. The flock was broken up by a plane crossing the line 
of flight, which was southwest and against a strong wind. At the same 
time they also observed two other groups, of 17 and 11 respectively, which 
were broken up by the approach of a second plane, all of the birds milling 
around without any order. After a short time the flocks reformed into the 
three original groups of 14, 17 and 11 birds and continued their fiight to 
the southwest. All of the flocks were flying at about the usual height of 
transport planes, approximately one mile. 
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The 1944—45 Lecture Series 
IN THE FALL MONTHS of 1944 and spring months of 1945 the Illinois 
Audubon Society sponsored a series of lectures in cooperation with the 
National Audubon Society. These were very well received by our members, 
their families and friends. In at least one instance all seats in the audito- 
rium of the Chicago Academy of Sciences were taken, all available standing 
room was filled, and quite a number stood in the lobby and looked and 
listened from outside the hall. 
C. A. (Bert) Harwell, of California, opened the series October 7, 1944, 
with “Music of the Out-of-doors,” illustrating his talk with color-movies of 
the west and southwest and his whistled imitations of the song's of the birds. 
John H. Storer, of Massachusetts, appeared November 15 and enchanted 
his audience with a program of wildlife studies, all in color and all in slow 
motion, that ranged from Florida to Washington and from Texas to Maine. 
His pictures of birds in flight in slow motion were something to marvel at 
and to be long remembered for their beauty. 
Alexander Sprunt, Jr., of Charleston, S. C., started 1945 off very nicely 
with a lecture on “Wildlife from Texas to Chicago” on January 5, in which 
he featured the colorful roseate spoonbill. Mr. Sprunt correlates the study 
of our wildlife with the over-all conservation movement and makes clear its 
importance and that its necessity is the business of all of us. 
Murl Deusing, of Milwaukee, Wis., showing “Bright Feathers” on 
February 9, brought to us the season by season story of a number of our 
more common birds that nest in Northern Wisconsin, Door County in par- 
