82 Bird - Lore pay all expense of carriage. We are obliged to refuse, for the present, all calls for the lecture outside of Massachusetts. Without doubt a traveling lecture should be a part of tiie eciuipiiient of every Auduiioii Society . A friend has agreed to give the society $50 annually, to be devoted to prizes to junior members. This year the committee have decided to award it in four prizes: viz: fao, #15, l^io, and $5, for the best drawing of a Bobolink in full summer plumage. It gave us pleasure last autumn to wel- come the first conference of state Audubon Societies, which was held at the Agassiz Museum, Cambridge, the afternoon of November 15. Delegates were present from Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, District of Columbia, New York, Rhode Island and West Virginia. Mrs. William Brewster and Mrs. Frank Bolles entertained the delegates and officers, with prominent members of the A. O. U., at receptions on the evenings of November 12 and 14. Mr. Chapman invited the societies to meet in a second conference November 11, 1901, in New York city. There are many problems that the Au- dubon Societies have in hand that can be solved only by persistent and united effort of ail the state societies. A committee has been chosen to arrange for a national federation of the societies, and a full atteml- ance at an annual conference by delegates from all the societies would, in a few years, consolidate and strengthen the work and raise it to a powerful position throughout the country. Harrikt E. Richards, Secv. Meeting of the New York Society At the annual meeting of the Audubon Society of New York state addresses were made by Charles R. Skinner, State Superin- tendent of Public Instruction, T. S. Palmer, William Dutcher, and Frank M. Chapman. Mr. Skinner's address on "The Educa- tional Value of Bird Study" showed a thorough appreciation of the pleasure and the mental and moral profit which may come from an actjuaintance with the iiirds about us. He said "the value of any study is the use we make of it," and after ex- pressing his belief that a practical educa- tion which would fit us to enjoy nature as we daily come in contact with it was of more importance than special or technical training in certain details, added, " I be- lieve it to be more essential to the happiness of our children to teach them to know our native birds, flowers and trees than to tell them stories in Latin and Greek of events that happened 2,000 years ago." Dr. Palmer presented an admirable re- view of the history of bird laws in this country and explained the powers of the Lacey Act, particularly in its relation to state laws. Contrasting present conditions with those which prevailed at the opening of the nineteenth century, it was shown that the only bird law then in force in New York state was one protecting Heath Hens, Ruffed Grouse, Bob-White and Woodcock on Long Island and in New York county, while now scarcely a state or territory was without laws designed to protect song, as well as game birds. Mr. Dutcher spoke on the subject of practical bird protection, and illustrated its results, as well as his remarks, with a series of views from nature made by himself on the coast of Maine in July, 1900, while vis- iting the colonies of Herring Gulls which were under the protection of wardens em- ployed through the Thayer Fund. Mr. Chapman, in proof of the work ac- complished by the Audubon Societies, com- pared the fashions of fifteen years ago, when our native song birds could be seen on almost every other hat, with their prac- tically complete absence today. He also attributed the present wide-spread interest in bird study largely to the efforts of the Audubon Societies. The Audubon Conference Committee Dr. C. S. Minot, presiding officer of the first Audubon Conference, has appointed as a Conference Committee for the joint meet- ing of the Audubon Societies to be held in New York city, in November, 1901, H. C. Humpus, F. M. Chapman, and Ralph Hoffmann.
