The Electronic Chickadee

This is the Voice of Audubon. There is a small loon, a redhead duck and an American coot on Jamaica Pond. Brown-capped chickadees and "white-winged crossbills may be seen in the Arnold Arboretum . . What birds do you have to report?

Novelist John P. Marquand's late George Apley, a dedicated Bostonian who liked to watch birds and deplored progress, never had it like this. Beginning last week Boston's bird watchers could get a bulletin on what to look for simply by dialing Kenmore 6-4050. Mrs. Ruth P. Emery, co-editor of Records of New England Birds, asked the telephone company to install an answering machine beside her desk. A recording of the current bulletin, previously made by her, goes over the wire when a call comes in. A tape recorder takes down incoming information.

For the first four days, Mrs. Emery's Voice of Audubon had about 500 calls a day. Inevitably, a few odd specimens got on the tape, such as "a pink duck with blue stripes," "a Saltonstall pretending to be a senator," and "two lame ducks on Tremont Street."