BUREAU OF BIOLOGICAL SUKVEY. 673 



were framed, in cooperation willi tlie lleclamation Service, governing 

 the running of boats, placing of wharves, and possession ot firearms. 



FoRUESTER Island, Alaska. — Tliis new reservation in Alaska, in 

 the Tongass National Forest, has long been the breeding place of 

 various kinds of sea fowl, including the rhinoceros auklet, Cassin's 

 auklet, tufted puflins, murres, and gulls. It has been the custom of 

 the Indians and fishermen to gather vast quantities of the eggs of 

 these birds. During the nesting season a w^arden will be stationed at 

 Forrester Island to see that the birds are not unduly molested. The 

 Forest Service is cooperating actively in protecting these Alaska 

 reservations. 



Hawaiian Eeservation. — Laysan Island has recovered somewhat 

 from the devastation wrought by plume hunters in 1910, but the 

 colonies are still in a sadly reduced condition. Rabbits are in- 

 creasing with astonishing rapidity, and something must be done to 

 check them, or most, if not all, vegetation on the island will soon be 

 destroyed and the land birds necessarily exterminated. One of the 

 rarest wild ducks in the world, the Laysan teal, is still present in 

 small numbers on the island, and it is hoped that wdth care it will 

 increase and become abundant. Enormous colonies of Laysan and 

 black-footed albatrosses are found on Laysan Island and Lysianski 

 Island, as well as petrels of several species, noddy and sooty terns, 

 and a few Pacific white terns. There are now about 2,000 Laysan 

 rails, a bird which is particularly interesting, as, like the Laysan teal, 

 it occurs only on this island. Through the cooperation of the Reve- 

 nue-Cutter Service the Thetis visited the reservation twice during 

 the year and reported everytliing in good condition. If semiannual 

 visits can be made to the reservation by some vessel the birds will 

 not be molested, since under such an arrangement poaching would 

 hardly prove profitable. 



Klamath Lake, Oreg. — The nesting season of 1911 on the whole 

 was good, although there was a marked decrease in the number of 

 Canada geese. Ducks have held their own, but have decreased con- 

 siderably in the surrounding country, due to more hunting than 

 usual, early opening of the himting season, and the large bags 

 allowed. The number of ducks on the reservation is roughly esti- 

 mated at 10.000. The regulations were generally respected, owing to 

 the activity of the warden. Four arrests were made for having game 

 illegally in possession. Disastrous tule fires occurred during March, 

 which proved very destructive to the nesting grounds, as well as to 

 the fur-bearing animals on the reservation. In order to patrol the 

 reservation and to keep track of the boats which are allowed to nm 

 on the lake, a 28-foot launch was provided for the warden. A few 

 tracts of land in the southern part of the reservation which were 

 more valuable for agi'icultural purposes than for breeding grounds 

 were eliminated during the year and were thrown open to entry. 



Maltieur, Oreg.— The birds on the reservation were slightly less 

 in number than last season, due to the scarcity of water. Nineteen 

 egrets were seen nesting with a colony of blue and night herons. 

 These birds have not been accustomed to nest on the reservation, 

 although there has been a small colony some 15 miles west. On 



704S1°— AUB 1912 iS 



