The Audubon Societies 205 classes for bird study which they formed during the summer. This is a move- ment of the utmost importance, as with increasing membership it becomes more and more difficult for the secretary to conduct individual correspondence, and everyone who will band together local members and act as local secretary, will further the interests of the Society more than can be done in any other way. We would like to call the attention of our members to the following ; 1. When this Society was organized the quills used in millinery were all taken from large domestic birds. Lately the Brown Pelican, Eagles, Owls, and Turkey Vulture have been made to pay tribute to the fashions ; and we wish most earnestly to protest against the use of these quills. A good illustration of the feathers to be avoided will be found in the October number of Bird-Lore. 2. We would also call attention to the fact that this magazine is the official organ of the Audubon Societies, and is essential to anyone desiring to keep up with what is being done for the protec- tion of birds. 3. As heretofore, we are dependent almost entirely upon voluntary subscrip- tions for carrying on the objects of the organization, and we therefore appeal again for assistance from those inter- ested in furthering the cause of the pro- tection of birds. Increased funds will, of course, enable us to reach a larger number of persons, and to issue a larger amount of literature, for which there is a constant demand. Donations should be forwarded to the treasurer, Mr. William L. Baily, 421 Chestnut street, Philadelphia. For the coming year w-e have in view the usual course of lectures, by Mr. Stone, and also the furthering of bird study in the schools, to which end we hope to issue some educational circulars. Jr;LiA Stockton Robins, Sccv. THE WISCONSIN SOCIETY Our busy season is in the spring of the vear. At about Easter time our State Superintendent of Schools issued his 'Arbor and Bird-Day Annual,' which contained an invitation to teachers and children to join the Audubon Society. This invitation brought an almost over- whelming response, every day for sev- eral weeks bringing me ten or fifteen letters from would-be branches, and our school membership mounted rapidly to over 10,000. A prize offered to these children for the best personal observa- tion on a Bird Family was won by a little country girl, who wrote a very good composition on the Ground Sparrow. We have tried, with varying degrees of suc- cess, in different places, to institute the work of the ' Bird Restorers' among these children. We shall soon have a little library of bird books circulating among the schools, and we are trying to raise money for a set of lantern slides to ac- company a lecture — lecture and slides to be sent from place to place. I believe that the Audubon work has already made a deep impression in Wis- consin. The milliners' windows abound in Gulls and Birds of Paradise, but they are not finding a ready sale. As to wings, perhaps it is too much to expect that women will not believe their milli- ners when told that "These wings are all right, because they are made." E. G. Peckham, Sec'y. The Passing of the Tern The surprising results which may fol- low Fashion's demand for a certain kind of bird have never been more clearly shown than in the case of the Terns or Sea Swallows of our Atlantic coasts. Useless for food, the birds had escaped the demands of the hunter, and thou- sands nested in security along our beaches. The exquisite purity of their plumage and their unsurpassed graceful- ness on the wing made them a paiticu- larly grateful element of the coast scenery to every lover of the beautiful, while to the prosaic fisherman they often gave welcome evidence of the direction of the land, as with unerring flight they
