126 DuTCHER, Report of Committee on Bird Protection. f^"'' 



Warden System. — No wardens were employed by the Thayer 

 Fund, nor is it: deemed expedient to make any effort to patrol the 

 few remaining sea bird colonies on the Louisiana coast until there 

 is a law to protect them. 



Audubon Work. — During the past few weeks a Society has 

 been organized, which will at once be incorporated. Some very 

 ardent bird protectors will be its officers and managers, and much 

 good work is expected from them. Its first and most important 

 duty will be to educate the people of Louisiana regarding the 

 value of birds as an asset of the State, in connection with its 

 agricultural and forestry interests. When the people have awak- 

 ened to these facts they will take measures to protect the birds. 



Maine. 



Legislation. — The law is entirely satisfactory. 



Warden System. — Warden work has been continued this year 

 with the most satisfactory results. All of the stations have been 

 visited by some member of the Union, and the following extracts 

 from their letters and the reports of the wardens will give in detail 

 the practical benefits resulting from the operation of the Thayer 

 Fund. 



G. E. Cushman, warden at Bluff and Stratton Islands, reports 

 as follows : " As I am a fish and game warden for the State, I 

 have a chance to go along the coast, and I have seen more terns 

 this year than last, and it has been remarked to me several times 

 this year that there are more gulls on our coast than for years, 

 and that they are very tame. I protect all kinds of birds." 



Mr. A. H. Norton, a member of the Union, visited these colonies 

 July I, and writes: "It gives me much pleasure to report a most 

 satisfactory condition there. The colony breeding on Stratton 

 Island resorts to the brackish rivers which flow from the Scar- 

 borough marshes, to feed, and while at Pine Point, one of the 

 seaward barriers between the ocean and these marshes, I was 

 greatly pleased to see large flocks of the terns resting on the sea- 

 ward beach at high water, a thing I have never witnessed there 

 before, and there were also large flocks on the edge of the marshes 

 at rest. 



