230 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
islands. Two thousand dollars was appropriated for 
work incidental to these purposes and for an inves- 
tigation and reports upon the best methods and possible 
cost of protecting and increasing the colonies of birds 
on the island. This appropriation, and the authority 
to take the land, ought to protect the heath hen from 
a danger which has been of late years the most im- 
portant element in reducing its numbers—the bush and 
forest fires. The pinnated grouse of the West have 
suffered from the same cause. 
An investigation by the commissioners on fisheries 
and game of the problems involved in the preservation 
of the heath hen leads them to believe that one or more 
extensive areas, whether they be called reserves, sanc- 
tuaries or refuges, should be acquired by the common- 
wealth and patrolled and maintained. Such refuges 
should include the chief breeding and feeding grounds 
of the birds, and on the land should be sown crops of 
clover and such cultivated grains as they delight to 
feed on; that suitable fire stops or breaks should be 
maintained in order to reduce the danger of bush fires, 
so destructive to the birds in the past; that every pre- 
caution should be taken against the contagious diseases 
which might be transmitted to these wild birds through 
domestic fowls; that as soon as the number of birds 
is sufficiently increased, systematic artificial incubation, 
feeding and breeding should be begun for the purpose 
of rearing annually an increased number of birds. The 
commissioners believe that by artificial propagation the 
number of eggs laid may be increased, while it is 
