JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Tiu'reforc' it was decided to hold the 

 Sixth Annual Meeting at Augusta, 

 Maine. Friday and Saturday following 

 'i'h:i..ksg.Ving, 190L 



On motion of Professor Lee, a com- 

 mittee of three, with Professor Lane, 

 chairman, was ap:x)inted to considtr 

 tne matter of requirements for mem- 

 bership. The chair appointed Profes- 

 sor L. A. Lee and Mrs. A. H. Norton. 



Mr. J. M. Swain, chairman of the 

 Committee on Proteclion of Birds madj 

 the following report. 



'The little that has been done by 

 this committee the past year was done 

 practically before its appointment at 

 tne summer meeting held in July. 

 The Committe was appointed to act 

 with the A. O. LI. Committee on pro- 

 tection. The work comm^mced in 

 March by Mr. William Butcher's wi'it- 

 ing to the members of the Society and 

 to all those who were recommended 

 to him as being able to give informa- 

 tion in regard to the breeding colonies 

 of gulls and terns along our Maine 

 coast. 



Mr. Butcher is treasurer of the 

 Thayer fund, an appvopriation made 

 to be expended in hiring wardens to 

 give what protection they could to 

 the birds on their breeding grounds. 

 Mr. Butcher's lettei's to many of the 

 members and sportsmen, especially in 

 the interior of the State, were sent to 

 me to get what information I was able 

 and to assist him as best I could. 

 Several i-eports from persons residing 

 along the coast were referred to me. 

 and I found these reports somewhat 

 at variance I called on those I was 

 able to, and found their observa- 

 tions were not recent that their re- 

 ports were based on trips taken to the 

 islands several years ago. None of 

 these reports that came to me had 

 taken into consideration that a war 

 had l)een waged on 1h(se beautiful 

 nnd innocnt birds, with no other ac- 

 cusation than that they have a pretty 



plumage and that the women needed 

 them to W( ar on their hats. 



Pa: t of their destruction was due 

 to the so-called sportsmen, who go to 

 the iSiands where these birds were 

 brecdi. g m numbers, on the wild rug- 

 ged irlands which, to my mind, were 

 crt„ted lor our sea-birds to- make 

 their summer homes upon in security; 

 tueir e.'CLUse being less of an excuse 

 for they only wanted to try a new 

 shot gun or to try their skill as a 

 maiksman, having the bodies along 

 the shores where they fell, murdered 

 wantonly. 



Most of these reports stated that 

 aiong the southv/est coast from Harps- 

 well to the New Hampshire line there 

 wt;e several largo tolonii s of common 

 and Arctic Ttins — one on Bluff and 

 Stratton islands off Cape Elizabeth, 

 one on Richmonds, and one on Ram 

 island also off the cape. A colony of 

 Herring Gulls som.e said; others said 

 Common Terns on Outer Green and 

 Junk of Pork, toward Half-way light; 

 oni> on the Biown Cow and another on 

 Mark Island at the entrance toward 

 Harpswell. 



t'rom my recent trips I had made to 

 these places, I was led to believe that 

 these reports were somewhat behind 

 the pi esent time. So trips were again 

 made to those places to ascertain just 

 v/hat could be done for protection 

 v/here there sliould remain a colony 

 of brei ding bii'ds. Trips to Mark Is- 

 land, Blown Cow, Outer Green and 

 Junk of Pork showed that not a gull 

 or a tern was left on these once large 

 Dreeding -grounds. Richmonds and 

 Ram Islands, also, were a thing of the 

 past. Only one colony of terns were 

 found to remain on this pai't of our 

 beautiful coast. On Bluff and Stratton 

 islands about .500 or 600 pairs of terns 

 came back to nest. This was partly 

 due to the fact that Mr. J. C. Jordan, 

 owner of the islands, having a man 



