Quails and Pheasants are known to have suffered much in Oregon and Washington. A quaint little incident is reported of pheasants in Washington, sent us by a correspondent in British Columbia. He relates that the Pheasants during the time of deep snow not only came familiarly about barnyards, but were fond of perching on the backs of the hogs in order, apparently, to warm their chilled feet.
There have been some losses in New England, and even from New Jersey reports reached the office of the toll of bird-life that the heavy snow had taken.
STUDENTS OF THE SOUTH DAKOTA STATE COLLEGE, AFTER LISTENING TO AN ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT E. C. PERISHO, ON THE NEED OF FEEDING BIRDS IN WINTER. NOTE THE DEPTH OF THE SNOW.
When George Bird Grinnell coined the term “Audubon Society,” and started the Audubon Movement, in 1886, one of the first to respond to the call and to go actively into the work was Miss Florence Merriam, who, with Miss Fanny Hardy—now Mrs. Eckstorm, author of several bird-books—in March, 1886, organized the Smith College Audubon Society. Soon afterward Miss Merriam assumed the duties of a local Audubon secretaryship, in northern New York, and also secured local secretaries in several neighboring towns.
In 1897, when the Audubon Society of the District of Columbia was organized, she was one of its chartered members. For many years, as Mrs. Florence Merriam Bailey, she has been an active member of its executive committee, and, among other duties, has had charge of the annual spring bird-class, one of the most important features of that Society. That her interest in the work is deep, and sympathetic to an unusual degree may be shown by a quotation from a letter that she wrote to the California Audubon Society on the occasion of its organization:
“Wherever you go, study the birds and tell your friends of them. Point out to them the chaste beauty of your exquisitely tinted waterfowl; let them see the glowing splendor of your Tanagers, the flashing jewels of your Hummingbirds. Take them to the fields, that they may listen in rapture to the rare voice of your Meadowlark; take them to the deep canyons filled with the flute-like notes of the Canyon Wren; and to the fir forests on the mountainsides, where their souls will be stirred by the uplifted song of the Thrush.
“By knowing the birds personally, you will bring to your Audubon work the enkindling spark of enthusiastic friendship. In all phases of your work, for yourselves, your friends, your birds, and your children, you have my hearty interest and good wishes. For fifteen years I have been waiting for you to take up the cause of the California birds, and for many years I have been working with the children of the West on my heart. Knowing this, you may well believe that I wish your beautiful work an earnest God-speed.”