Reports of Field Agents 507 



been given in various parts of the state, especially to school-children. Excep- 

 tional pictures have been secured of Sage Grouse, wild antelopes, and other 

 creatures seen about water-holes in the arid region of southeastern Oregon. 

 Antelopes are becoming scarce, and unless an area of land is set aside as a 

 refuge for these animals in this part of the country they will speedily disappear. 

 I do not believe there are 1,500 wild antelopes in the state today, where several 

 thousand existed ten years ago. 



REPORT OF HERBERT K. JOB, DEPARTMENT OF 

 APPLIED ORNITHOLOGY 



Upon the establishment of this Department on August i, 1914, the most 

 pressing need was for printed information with which to answer inquiries, as 

 no adequate publications existed in America explaining propagation methods. 

 To meet this demand I prepared Bulletin No. 2, 'Propagation of Upland Game 

 Birds,' and Bulletin No. 3, 'Propagation of Wild Water- fowl.' I also prepared 

 at the earnest request of some of the gentlemen most interested a general 

 manual of the entire subject, published as a book under the title 'The Propa- 

 gation of Wild Birds.' 



Personal assistance has been given to owners of estates or preserves, by 

 letter, by supplying the above publications, and by visits and laying out local 

 plans. Cooperative work has continued on various estates, such as those of 

 William Rockefeller, Edmund C. Converse, Senator George P. McLean, and 

 others. Nesting-boxes were put up for the National Association on the estates 

 above mentioned, and on the grounds of the Cold Spring Harbor Biological 

 Laboratory, in order to secure data for further use. Similar plans were carried 

 out on the great estate of Alfred C. Harrison, near Philadelphia; and a colony 

 of Purple Martins, and pairs of other birds, were induced to breed in these 

 boxes. The well-known estate of Otto Kahn, on Long Island, is now being 

 surveyed for a supply of apparatus and food-plants and trees, as are various 

 other estates and preserves. 



Cooperation in propagation experiments has been continued. On the estates 

 of William Rockefeller and of Edmund C. Converse, the Canvasback Duck was 

 bred under restraint, for the first time in history, under plans carried out by 

 the Department. The breeding of the Ruffed Grouse and of the Bob-white, 

 continued on the estate of Senator McLean, was successful. Many workers, 

 by following the methods of Bulletin No. 2, have reared Quails during the past 

 season without incurring the Quail-disease; and other managers of estates in 

 various parts of the country are being advised and helped in beginning such 

 work. 



The need felt, not only by the Department, but by the National Associa- 

 tion, for motion-pictures with which to interest and educate the public, led 

 to an expedition for that purpose which I conducted for two months among 



