BUKEAU OF BIOLOGICAL SURVEY. 543 



Two cases of trespass required consideration— one on the Deer Flat 

 Keser^ation, Idaho; the other on the Tortiigas Eeservation. It has 

 been the policy of the Department to secure the cooperation of resi- 

 dents adjacent to reservations rather than to incur their enmity 

 through rigorous measures, but in the Deer Flat case the violation 

 was so flagrant that prosecution was deemed necessary. In the other 

 trespass case tlie otlenders were fishermen, probably from Habana, 

 who landed on Bird Key, in the Tortugas Reservation, during the 

 winter and stripped the warden's quarters of everything portable, 

 including the lumber and other materials for repairs and improve- 

 ments. The matter was brought to the attention of the Secretary of 

 the Navy, who directed the commandant of the naval station at Key 

 West to warn fishermen and others not to land on the Tortugas 

 Reservation. 



Under the usual permission to trap on Lake Malheur and Klamath 

 Lake Reservations the wardens report the following number of fur- 

 bearing mammals secured during the season: Malheur Lake, 2,456 

 muskrats and 31 minks; Klamath Lake, 8 skunks, 5 otters, 12 rac- 

 coons, 213 minks, and 7 weasels. 



Pelican Island Reservation. — The second nesting on Pelican 

 Island extended from the latter part of May, 1910, to the end of 

 August. When able to fly the young birds left, but in September 

 some returned, and by the middle of the month there were from 

 2,000 to 3,000 birds around the island.- October 17-20 the old birds 

 came and nest building began. The entire submergence of the island 

 for a few days in October, owing to hurricanes and severe storms, 

 drove most of the birds to another island east of the main one. By 

 December 15 the new colony contained 5,000 nests with eggs or young. 

 By April 1, Avhen about half the young had left the reservation, a new 

 flock of birds arrived and began nest building. Several hundred 

 more came in about April 14, and by May 1 a second nesting was well 

 under way. The season for visitors opened January 15, and. the col- 

 ony was inspected by about 35 parties. 



Breton Island Reservation.— The appointment of an additional 

 warden for the Breton Island Reservation took effect December 1, 

 1910. The birds noted during the vear on this reservation included 

 12,000 or 13,000 ducks, mainly bluebills, 1,000 snipe, 2,000 other shore 

 birds, 1,000 Forster's and least terns, and 4,000 laughing gulls. 



Tortugas Reservation. — The existence of the colony of birds on 

 the Tortugas Reservation was seriously threatened by rats. The 

 rodents, which came from an old Norwegian schooner driven aground 

 near the island in 1909, lived largely on cn:bs in winter, but later in 

 the season destroyed hundred of birds' eggs and killed many young 

 birds. Many of the rats were destroyed, and it is believed that the 

 danger has been averted. The Department of Commerce and Labor 

 instructed the lighthouse keepers at Loggerhead and Garden Keys to 

 cooperate with the warden on Bird Key in preventing the gathering 

 of terns' eggs, through which, in former years, the colony of least 

 terns on Long Key was nearly exterminated. 



Stcmp Lake. — Two dry seasons on Stump Lake Reservation have 

 been bad for the ducks, though on July 1, 1910. young gulls were 

 more numerous than ever before. On July 5 a hailstorm killed 95 

 per cent of the young birds on the reservation and 10 per cent of the 

 adults. 



