Natural His‘mD; Sadat); news 
     
    
   
   
    
     MARCH MEETING: The March 4 meeting was held in the meeting room in the 
     
     basement of the Health Building and proved to be one of the liveliest 
     
     that members could remember. Rosemary Curley talked about the Owl Prowl 
     
     she led in Bonshaw and the recent Environmental Network meeting in Hali— 
     
     fax, where there were eight Islanders in attendance. Two delegates from 
     
     P.E.I., Roy Johnstone and Gerald MacDonald will attend the Fate of the 
     
     Earth Conference planned for this June. 
     
    

    
     Sue Stephenson, who wound up actually going on the train to Van— 
     
     couver, told members about the Save South Moresby Caravan campaign, and 
     
     relayed CNFls thanks for the Society's $100 donation. 
     
    

    
     The meeting took place just after the Fish and Wildlife Division 
     
     had released excerpts of Anne Gallant's study on the feeding habits of 
     
     double—crested cormorants on freshwater ponds. Randall Diblee, Water— 
     
     fowl and Furbearer Biologist from the Division, came to the meeting to 
     
     clarify his position and field questions. Some members agreed with his 
     
     stand on allowing limited hunting of cormorants. Others felt there were 
     
     too many questions left unanswered by the study. Nothing was resolved 
     
     during the lengthy discussion, but both sides of the issue were dealt 
     
     with (and will undoubtably be dealt with in the future). " 
     
    

    
     Although the meeting was running quite late, almost everyone stayed 
     
     and were treated to Brian Herne's slideshow and talk on Arctic hares 
     
     in Newfoundland. BrianSs expertise and humour combined into a most 
     
     enjoyable presentation. 
     
    
   
   
    
     APRIL MEETING: The April meeting fell on April Fool's Day but luckily 
     
     there were no practical jokes at the Health Building. Rosemary Curley 
     
     told members about the projects that the Natural History Society is 
     
     sponsoring through various employment grants. The Society will shelter 
     
     all its events in 1987 under the Wildlife Centennial, and Dan McAskill, 
     
     chairperson of the steering committee on P.E.I., asked for suggestions 
     
     for special events. With the aid of other groups on the Island, Dan said 
     
     the committee is hoping for one event every week. 
     
    

    
     Evelyn Meader gave an update on her work with the Canadian Coalition 
     
     on Acid Rain. Although she has been having some problems with the slow- 
     
     ness of mail from the Coalition (and perhaps a lack of planning on their 
     
     part), it was agreed that they are doing work on the issue and the NHS 
     
     is the only group on P.E.I. supporting the national coalition. Members 
     
     voted to pay the 1986 membership dues of $50. 
     
    

    
     Dan McAskill also has information on the 5th annual Canadian 
     
     Nature Federation conferenCe, being held this year at Memorial Univer— 
     
     sity in St. John‘s, Nfld. The conference will take place July 23—26 
     
     and offers a wide variety of events. 
     
    

    
     The cormorant issue reared its double—crested head again at the 
     
     April meeting. The executive of the Society held a meeting on the subject 
     
     and because of concern over a split in the membership, have decided to 
     
     set up a committee to study the issue. A meeting was scheduled for 
     
     March 22 for all interested members. 1 
     
    

    
     Sue Stephenson fielded questions about her journey on the Save 
     
     South Moresby Caravan (see story on page three) and left everyone with 
     
     a very positive feeling about the effort. The evening's feature speaker 
     
     was Judy Kennedy, coordinator for the Breeding Bird Atlas. Her talk and 
     
     slide show encouraged some members to sign up to cover parts of the 
     
     Island. For more information on the Atlas, please see Rosemary Curley's 
     
     article on page 9.