Io8 DuTCHER, Report of Committee oji Bird Protection. ff"'' 



copies of game laws as follows : Two Acts of India ; Two Acts of New 

 Zealand ; and One Act of South Australia. 



I also enclose a copy of the A. O. U. model law. 



From all of this matter I think that you will be able to formulate a 

 good law for our Philippine possessions. 



Very respectfully, 



William Dutcher, 

 Chairman A. O. U. Committee on Protection 

 of North American Birds. 



From the tenor of the above correspondence it may be safely 

 conckided that the bird life of the 'Philippine Islands will never 

 be offered as a sacrifice on the altar of fashion or to the greed of 

 man. 



Midway Islands. — The Midway Islands are a station of the 

 new Pacific Cable Company and belong to the United States. 

 They are the homes and breeding places of countless seabirds,, 

 among them a species of pure white tern. Thousands of these 

 birds suddenly appeared in the millinery market al^out a year 

 since, under the trade name of ' Albinas ' and it was feared that 

 these terns would shortly be as nearly exterminated as were the 

 terns of the Atlantic coast. 



The following correspondence shows what the Committee has 

 done to preserve these birds. 



New '^'ork, Juh- 2, 1903. 

 Hon. Wm. H. Moody, 



Secretary of the Navy, 



Washington, D. C. 

 Dear Sir : — 



I am informed that large numbers of seabirds breed and make their 

 home upon the Midway Islands in the Pacific Ocean. 



As these islands are under the jurisdiction of your Department, I beg 

 in behalf of our Society that you will establish such rules and regulations 

 as will prevent the killing and taking of the resident birds for commercial 

 purposes, and also to prevent the taking of the eggs of the said birds dur- 

 ing the breeding season. 



I am informed that the Japanese people have been in the habit of visit- 

 ing these islands for the purpose of killing birds for their plumage. 



It is known that during the past few years enormous numbers of sea- 

 birds have been killed by the Japanese and have been shipped to the 

 Paris, London, and New York markets for millinery ornaments ; among. 



