Bird lore - Project Puffin

Reports of State Societies and Bird Clubs 459
information showing how to attract and care for the bird, but also by a stricter
enforcement of the laws enacted for its protection.
The various details of our Club's work the past year may be briefly enu-
merated as follows: An illustrated lecture was delivered in the early spring
to the members of the Club by Ernest Harold Baynes, and later in the season
this was repeated for the information and benefit of the public-school children
of Oyster Bay. Prizes were offered the school-children for the construction of
the best bird-houses, the most satisfactory photographs taken by any child
of a wild bird that had been tamed, and the best essays upon the life and pro-
tection of birds.
The Executive Committee was represented at the Mineola Fair, held in
the fall. It distributed notices and membership-forms, and explained the
aims and purposes of the Bird Club to several hundred persons. Bulletins
were also sold and many membership-fees obtained. The Executive Committee
during the previous season sent to all the members a pamphlet issued by the
National Association, containing directions for the care of birds and instruc-
tions as to the making and placing of shelters and nesting-boxes, with valuable
information concerning the best shrubs and trees to plant to attract birds.
Enamel and linen signs were distributed for posting on trees and fences,
stating in English and Italian that to molest birds or nests rendered
the offender liable to prosecution by the Bird Club. In addition, a printed
card was forwarded to every member, containing suggestions for the winter
feeding of wild birds and the best foods for such varieties as do not migrate.
Members were also supphed with a list of the game-wardens of Long Island
and the address of each, and requesting that any violation of the law be at
once reported to the Division Chief, at 145 1 Broadway, New York City.
A very important feature of the efficient service rendered by our Executive
Committee was obtained through the interest and cooperation of Dr. James
S. Cooley and Mr. W. C. Mepham, District Superintendents of the Public
Schools of Nassau County, as, under an arrangement with the National
Association of Audubon Societies, every school contributing $1 to the Bird
Club became a unit member, and by the payment of this amount to the Audubon
Society received from it such printed matter as might be issued during
the year, together with a series of leaflets, pictures of bird-life, and other
material for use in school-work, this being furnished in addition to such other
information as the Club itself might send out. Every school was also pre-
sented, through the generosity of one of the members of the committee, with
a copy of a book entitled, 'Birds Every Child Should Know,' a pubhcation
that particularly appeals to children and is of great use in familiarizing a
child with the Long Island birds, and in creating also an impression of the
attraction birds give by their presence in the woods and around the home.
It is interesting to note that the list of public schools enrolled as unit mem-
bers shows a total attendance of nearly 2,000 pupils, and for these and others