^°8gf ^J Report of Committer on Bird Protection. So 



ovaries at the time. For over two years I have been endeavoring^ 

 to get our State hiw repealed which gives the right to sell the 

 above birds during our close season. I have thus far been unsuc- 

 sessful, one of the arguments of my opponents being that they 

 will be shipped just the same to other States, and that unless the 

 killing and shipping can be stopped it will prove of no avail. 



" I called attention to this state of affairs several years ago ; 

 from that time to the present we have had none of these birds to 

 speak of in New England, for the best of reasons, as it is unreason- 

 able to expect the old birds and their increase to pass by our 

 shore in the autumn on their return migration, going south, if you 

 kill the old birds on the way north to breed. These birds have 

 long since passed the danger mark, and if anything is ever to be 

 done in their behalf, it should be done now." 



Mr. Forbush, of the Committee, joined Mr. Mackay in urging 

 the adoption by the legislature of his bill for the protection of 

 birds, and has also given a large amount of information to speakers 

 who have addressed Women's Clubs and other organizations in 

 behalf of the protection of birds ; he has also mailed reports and 

 ornithological matter for use in school work. His own work as 

 Ornithologist to the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture lies prin- 

 cipally with the agricultural population, and he has spoken at 

 farmers' meetings on the subject of the usefulness of birds, and 

 has always advocated their protection ; he also reports that the 

 Massachusetts Fish and Game Committee has supplied him with 

 notices warning against wild bird shooting, and these have been 

 posted on the land of people who have been troubled by boys and 

 gunners ; he also reports that the Metropolitan Park Commissioner 

 of Massachusetts has taken several tracts of woodland and set 

 them aside as public parks, in which no gunning is allowed, and 

 for the past three years the birds have been increasing in these 

 parks. In the Middlesex Fells region, comprising thousands of 

 acres, a large part of which has been seized by the Commis- 

 sioner, Grouse, Quail, Crows, and Jays have greatly increased. 

 The results of the protection of birds in these forest parks will 

 be watched with interest. 



