Reports of Special Agents 303 



Delano of Massachusetts, (ico. \V. Clark of Illinois, Carlos Avery of Minnesota 

 and William \. Stephens of Idaho. An important feature of the convention 

 was the i)resence and addresses of seven National Forest Rangers. E. A. Sherman, 

 Chief Inspector of the National Forest for the district of Montana, northern 

 Idaho and Wyoming, in a most interesting manner enlarged on the work of 

 forest preservation and the relationship between this valuable subject and game 

 protection. 



New officers were elected for the Association as follows: President, William 

 F. Scott, Helena, Montana; First Vice-president, T. G. Pearson, Greensboro, 

 N. C; Second Vice-president, L. T. Carleton, Augusta, Me.; Secretary, Chas. 

 A. Voglesang, San Francisco, Cal.; Treasurer, Carlos Avery, St. Paul, Minn.; 

 General Council, Joseph Acklen, Nashville, Tenn.; Directors, John W. Delano, 

 Marion, Mass.; David E. Farr, Denver, Col. 



After the adjournment of the convention, the commissioners proceeded on 

 a five-day tour in the Yellowstone National Park, where many facilities were 

 afforded them for seeing not only the wild life but the natural phenomena of 

 this wonderful, world-renowned region. — T. Gilbert Pearson, Secretary. 



REPORTS OF SPECIAL AGENTS 



REPORT OF EDWARD HOWE FORBUSH 



My work with the National Association began in January with the intro- 

 duction of two bills into the Massachusetts legislature. One of these was drawn 

 to protect the larger Gulls at all times, and the other to prohibit all spring shoot- 

 ing of Wild Ducks. While these bills were pending. Congress refused the appro- 

 priation for the Bureau of Biological Survey of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture, and it became necessary at once to concentrate all effort on the 

 attempt to make more widely known the importance of the work of the Survey. 



From January 15 to June i, my time was given mainly to legislative work 

 in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. This work was almost 

 uniformly successful, as all the measures advocated were enacted, with the 

 exception of the anti-spring shooting bill in Massachusetts. All proposed bills 

 inimical to bird protection were defeated. The bill to protect the Gulls was 

 enacted largely through the efforts of Dr. Geo. W. Field, chairman of the Com- 

 mission on Fisheries and Game. I followed through all their stages a bill 

 to protect Loons and Eagles, and another, introduced by the Fall River Natural 

 History Society, to protect the more useful Owls and Hawks. A bill requiring 

 non-residents hunting within the state to procure a $10 license was also advo- 

 cated and supported through all its stages. 



The bill to authorize the Commission on Fisheries and Game to take land 

 on the Island of Martha's Vineyard, to be used in conserving and propagating 

 the nearly extinct Heath Hen, met with considerable opposition in the Ways 



