Reports of Field Agents 437 



were given by your agent during the past year before the Minnesota Game 

 Protective League, American Society for the Extension of University Teaching, 

 Ogontz School, National Geographic Society, Columbia University, American 

 Museum of Natural History, Brooklyn Institute, Vermont Game Protective 

 League, Springfield Fish and Game Association, Fairbanks Museum of Natural 

 Sciences, Twentieth Century Club of Cleveland, National Conference for 

 American Game Breeding held under the auspices of the American Game 

 Protective Association, the Massachusetts Audubon Society, and other clubs 

 and organizations. 



REPORT OF HERBERT K. JOB, DEPARTMENT OF 

 APPLIED ORNITHOLOGY 



In response to a large and growing demand for practical assistance and 

 instruction, this Department was formally instituted on August i, 19 14. In 

 taking this action the Association decided to foster a nation-wide movement 

 for popularizing direct, practical measures for the increase of wild bird-life, 

 and for propagating game-birds and wild water-fowl. Previous experience had 

 shown that to meet the flood of questions continually asked, practical informa- 

 tion must be provided for general distribution. Therefore bulletins on the 

 propagation of game-birds, and of wild water-fowl, were speedily prepared and 

 published in large editions. Moreover, in order to present the entire subject 

 in a concise form, and to provide a textbook for the Department, a manual of 

 applied ornithology, entitled 'Propagation of Wild Birds,' was written and 

 placed on the market. 



Personal assistance has been furnished to many individuals and organiza- 

 tions, and interest in attracting birds to come and remain about the place has 

 been widely stimulated, both through personal inspections and by a large 

 volume of correspondence. On the estate of U. S. Senator George P. McLean, 

 Simsbury, Connecticut, nesting-boxes were put up by the Department, which 

 have been largely occupied during two seasons. The estate of Otto H. Kahn, 

 Coldspring Harbor, Long Island, was supervised for this purpose. During the 

 winter a surprising number of small birds and some Quails were fed, requiring 

 more than 150 pounds of seed-mixture, besides much suet. The nesting-boxes 

 erected there were mostly occupied. Nesting-boxes were also set up on the 

 grounds of the Biological Laboratory in the same town. Edmund C. Converse 

 was assisted on his estate at Greenwich, Connecticut, in attracting birds and 

 in breeding wild ducks. His interest and enthusiasm were so developed that 

 he has now employed an expert to devote his whole time to making his great 

 estate a wild-bird paradise. The Tarrytown, New York, estate of William 

 Rockefeller has received constant attention from the Department. Near 

 Philadelphia, on the estate of Alfred C. Harrison, a colony of Purple Martins has 

 been established, and other occupants of nesting-boxes. Inspections have 



