22 P.D. 123. 



Coonamessett Ranch, July 9, also noted the gulls destroying cicadas. Mr. 

 Allan Keniston, superintendent of the Heath Hen Reservation on Marthas 

 Vineyard, says that on Muskeget Island at the time of the cifada outbreak 

 on Cape Cod, the Laughing Gulls were feeding their young on that insect. 



They must have carried the food about twenty-one miles from the nearest 

 Cape Cod cicada colony. The seventeen-year cicada appeared this year in 

 Sandwich, Mashpee, Falmouth, Barnstable and Yarmouth, with a few other 

 records from the border line between the townships of Truro and Wellfleet. 

 The most intense broods were found along the shore of Cape Cod from Fal- 

 mouth to Yarmouth, with heavy broods on the east side of Buzzards Bay in 

 Bourne and Sandwich. 



The Heath Hen. 



In the report of the Division for 1922, it was predicted that with continued 

 diminution the Heath Hen would soon be extinct. The diminution has con- 

 tinued and the species is now in danger of extinction. It is doubtful if 

 there are in the world today 50 Heath Hens. But even so, the attempt to 

 preserve the species should not be given up, as its numbers have been similarly 

 reduced once, and there is still a possibility of saving the species. 



The Gulls and Terns of Massachusetts. 



Apparently a redistribution of Gulls and Terns is going on along the coast 

 of Massachusetts. On Muskeget, which formerly was occupied by an immense 

 colony of Common Terns, many Roseate Terns and some Arctic Terns, 

 Laughing Gulls have now greatly increased, so that Terns now occupy only a 

 small part of the Island. It seems evident that many Terns that formerly 

 bred on the Island have left it and Avathin the past few years many Terns have 

 appeared along the coast of the mainland and begun breeding, a few pairs at a 

 place. None of these colonies, however, on the coast of the Mainland, can be 

 permanently successful, although by scattering about, the birds may be able for 

 a time to rear young. There are too many winged and four-footed enemies on 

 the mainland and our shores are too populous now in summer to allow these 

 birds to breed there successfully and continuously. The Islands of Penikese 

 and Egg Rock, now in possession of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 

 should be set aside as breeding places for sea birds. 



Bird Banding. 



During the past year the Division has taken an active part in the work 

 of trapping and banding birds, inaugurated by the Biological Survey of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture. The practice of trapping birds 

 and tagging them by means of numbered aluminum bands attached to the right 

 leg has grown rapidly in Massachusetts and New England. Most of the 

 oflficial observers of this Division have taken up bird banding, and most of 

 the members of the New England Bird Banding Association have made 

 reports to this office as Avell as to the Biological Survey. 



REPORT OF THE DIVISION OF RECLAMATION, 

 SOIL, SURVEY AND FAIRS. 



The reclamation work of the Division of Reclamation, Soil Survey and Fairs 

 for this year has been carried on by the State Reclamation Board ; the 

 Director of the Division of Reclamation, Soil Survey and Fairs is also Secre- 

 tary of the State Reclamation Board. The report of the Board follows : 



REPORT OF STATE RECLAMATION BOARD. 



The personnel of the Board has continued unchanged since 1921 — Mr. 

 Warren C. Jewett of Worcester, Chairman, representing the Department of 

 Health, and Mr. Leslie R. Smith of Hadley, Secretary, representing the 

 Department of Agriculture. 



