Page:Bird-lore Vol 04.djvu/82

 Bird Clubs in America 61

be short, may be interrupted by remarks or queries. and are followed by informal discussion in which the juveniles are led to join freely.

9. Field trips led by experts for the beneﬁt of amateurs

to. Annual meetings of a more pretentious character illustrative of the year's work. with social and gastronomic attractions.

It may be objected by would~be club promoters that the ﬁrst two secrets of our success as above given are not attainable by the average club. As to the ﬁrst. however. it is most essential that in its establish— ment some one competent person should be able and willing to sacriﬁce a goodly part of his time to getting the club in a fairly automatic running condition along the lines pursued by the D. V. O. C. enumer- ated above under sections 3 to to. As we are now constituted, the untiring and skilful labors of our business manager. Mr. VVitmer Stone. have become less arduous. and to a certain extent the machine has acquired a sort of reproductive power that insures its perpetuity.

Undoubtedly good live bird clubs can be organized along the same lines as ours and yet be removed hundreds of miles from any seat of learning like the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Let their aim be to establish. tvheresoever they are. nuclei for just such a seat of learning as the Academy is to-day. ‘Ve cannot have too many of them.

English Starling

BY EDITH M. THOMAS

Here‘s to the stranger. so lately a ranger, “rho came from far over seas:— Whatever the weather. still in high feather.

At top of the windy trees!

Here‘s to the darling—brave English Starling.— Stays the long winter through:

He would not leave us. would not bereave us.— Not he. though our own birds do!

Cold weather pinches— ﬂown are the ﬁnches. Thrushes and warblers tool

Here‘s to the darling. here's to the Starling.— English Starling true!