8 8 I Report of Commitlcr on liird Protci lion. O^ 



with adjournments, I was present and spoke at eleven ot them as 

 your representative. 



" No seriously-objectionable legislation has been enacted dur- 

 ing tlie past year, and the amount of ornithological information 

 which has been imparted to some of our legislators at these hear- 

 ings has been considerable, and cannot but result in good. Very 

 late in the Session of 1897 a bill prohibiting the wearing of, or 

 having in possession the body or feathers of, any of our birds 

 now protected by law, was enacted. Although making a long 

 argument in its favor, I doubted its efficiency. Complaint hav- 

 ing been made to me regarding the killing of certain small birds 

 near Boston, I made application to the Chief of the District 

 Police, who furnished me with two officers in order to make inves- 

 tigations, but no evidence of sufficient strength to convict was 

 obtained. 



" In my last report I referred to a colony of Terns on Penikese 

 Island, Massachusetts, which were in need of protection. I am 

 happy to state that the owners of the island granted me all the 

 authority asked for, and by the time the birds had commenced 

 laying I had, in conjunction with Capt. W. H. Proctor of the 

 Buzzard's Bay police boat, prepared and put up a number of 

 signs on the island giving warning notices, printed in Portuguese 

 and English, in parallel columns, against the taking of eggs, kill- 

 ing of birds, and trespassing on the island, Capt. Proctor having 

 the island under surveillance during the breeding season. The 

 result has been satisfactory ; no eggs in quantity were taken, as 

 has been the custom heretofore. The following letter from Mr. 

 H. A. Homer, one of the two owners of the island, may prove of 

 interest. 



" ' I know of no attempts to gather eggs in quantities. Sev- 

 eral parties have been to the island for a few eggs for curios- 

 ities, and some for scientific purposes, and they have taken them 

 for such purposes, but only a few by each party. My man at the 

 island lodged one gentleman who had spent a day at Gull Island 

 and on Penikese Island investigating the Gulls : he was up until 

 II o'clock that night making notes. I did not learn his name. 

 He reported many dead Gulls, young and old. on the island, but 

 I have failed to see many. A few have been killed by Hawks ; 



