QO DuTCHER, Protection of Gulls and Terns. Ljan 



The gulls hover over the spot to feed on the small fish, thus show- 

 ing the fishermen where the schools of food fish are. 



The south colony was cared for by Capt. H. S. Miller, who re- 

 ports that a few parties came to egg, but he informed them of the 

 law, and that the American Ornithologists' Union would prosecute 

 any person or persons who infringed it. Subsequently he had no 

 trouble with poachers. He estimates that the colony contained 

 more than two thousand birds at the end of the season, Sept. 20^ 

 when the southward migration commenced. 



The law in New York is the same as in New Jersey ; tems be- 

 ing classed with " web-footed wild fowl," which are only protected 

 from May i to September 30. 



Maine. 



The coast of Maine was considered by the Committee as the 

 most important in the special field to be worked, for the reason 

 that it was supposed to have suffered less from the destructive 

 work of the feather hunters than any other portion of the coast, 

 except perhaps for the preceding twelve months. Rumors that 

 large numbers of gulls {Larus argentatus smiths otiianus) had been 

 shot there during the season of 1899 had come to our notice, but 

 it was thought that some large colonies still existed, and an in- 

 vestigation proved this to be a fact. Scattered along this beautiful 

 and picturesque coast may still be found large numbers of both 

 terns {Sterna hirundo et paradisced) and gulls (Z. a. smiths onianus^ 

 which, if protected, will in a few years resume their former abun- 

 dance ; but no measure of protection that can be given to the birds, 

 even by paid and faithful wardens, will be sufficient if the citizens 

 of Maine do not insist upon the immediate passage of a thoroughly 

 effective law. The present statute is lamentably deficient inas- 

 much as it does not protect any species of gulls in the slightest 

 degree. Terns, on the other hand, are protected by a late act. 

 The Committee, when it undertook to protect the gulls, was 

 confronted with the lack of a statute to aid them, and were there- 

 fore compelled to ascertain who were the owners in fee of the vari- 

 ous islands on which the colonies were located. These ownerships 

 were ascertained through the medium of lawyers and tax commis- 



