230 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 



islands. Two thousand dollars was appropriated for 

 work incidental to these purposes and for an inves- 

 tigation and reports upon the best methods and possible 

 cost of protecting and increasing the colonies of birds 

 on the island. This appropriation, and the authority 

 to take the land, ought to protect the heath hen from 

 a danger which has been of late years the most im- 

 portant element in reducing its numbers the bush and 

 forest fires. The pinnated grouse of the West have 

 suffered from the same cause. 



An investigation by the commissioners on fisheries 

 and game of the problems involved in the preservation 

 of the heath hen leads them to believe that one or more 

 extensive areas, whether they be called reserves, sanc- 

 tuaries or refuges, should be acquired by the common- 

 wealth and patrolled and maintained. Such refuges 

 should include the chief breeding and feeding grounds 

 of the birds, and on the land should be sown crops of 

 clover and such cultivated grains as they delight to 

 feed on ; that suitable fire stops or breaks should be 

 maintained in order to reduce the danger of bush fires, 

 so destructive to the birds in the past ; that every pre- 

 caution should be taken against the contagious diseases 

 which might be transmitted to these wild birds through 

 domestic fowls; that as soon as the number of birds 

 is sufficiently increased, systematic artificial incubation, 

 feeding and breeding should be begun for the purpose 

 of rearing annually an increased number of birds. The 

 commissioners believe that by artificial propagation the 

 number of eggs laid may be increased, while it is 



