vol. XX I j)iTxcHER, Report oj Committee on Bird Protection. 147 



write and urge, or even go so far as to demand a new law, the 

 appeal will be listened to. 



Warden Work. — On the Virginia coast some of the most impor- 

 tant work attempted by your Committee is done through the 

 Thayer Fund. Hie work, however, is very largely moral suasion 

 rather than legal protection. The law is so thoroughly unsatisfac- 

 tory that the wardens find it hard to give absolute protection 

 during the early weeks of the breeding season. With all the draw- 

 backs it is our pleasant duty to report that all of the sea bird col- 

 onies on the Virginia coast are making a steady gain. If the legal 

 taking of eggs could be stopped, the gain would be much more 

 rapid than it is now. It is now impossible for plume hunters to 

 visit this coast and kill Terns and Laughing Gulls by the thou- 

 sands, as they did only a few years since ; if such an attempt were 

 to be made the plumers would have to reckon with a very deter- 

 mined party of eight wardens, extracts from whose reports are 

 herewith given. 



Capt. J. M, Fedderman, of Assateague Beach, says : " Eggs are 

 taken, but no one can estimate the number, as parties hunt for them 

 at all times. From two boys I took i6 Marsh Hen's eggs and 6 

 Willet's eggs, which were replaced in the nests and were afterward 

 hatched. On August 26 a party did some shooting, but on inves- 

 tigation I was unable to find any gulls or terns on them and 

 therefore could not have them fined. There is a good harbor here 

 for vessels, and the sailors give the most trouble looking for 

 eggs ; boys being the next most troublesome. Summer boarders 

 rarely disturb eggs but shoot at anything that flies, merely for 

 practice. Marsh Hens are much more numerous than four or five 

 years back, and there has been som.e gain in the numbers of Wil- 

 lets. If means could be devised to stop the taking of eggs the 

 increase in birds would be surprising." 



Capt. J. B. Whealton, of Wallops Beach, says : "Most of the 

 people in this vicinity are in favor of protecting birds, but there 

 is a class of baymen that will take eggs, and sometimes kill breed- 

 ing birds. They give more trouble than any other persons. Prior 

 to two years since the gulls were almost all destroyed, but now there 

 is a big increase ; I should judge they have doubled in numbers, 

 and there is also a marked increase in the Willet ; more young 

 Willets were seen in August than at any time in five years past." 



