^°8q8^1 Report of Commiitcc on Bird Protcrlion. I OQ 



SO I could not learn of any parties who might be killing |)lume 

 birds. One boat with two men has been in the Gulf of California 

 for two seasons ; I cannot learn the full extent of their slaughter 

 until their return." 



Mr. Loomis reports : " The California Academy of Sciences's 

 bill for the protection of birds, before the last legislature, did not 

 reach the stage of final consideration. I was absent at the East, 

 and therefore could not press the matter ; the bill will be intro- 

 duced again at the next session, over a year hence. Some 

 protection, however, was secured through another bill that was in 

 advance of the Academy's. Fewer Murre's eggs were offered for 

 sale last season than usual ; one large dealer in poultry and eggs, in 

 the Union Square market, told me that he had ceased to handle 

 Gulls' eggs since the Government had prohibited their collection 

 on South Farallon Island, for those obtained from other localities 

 were generally stale when they reached the market. With the 

 passage of a State law prohibiting the sale of wild birds' eggs, the 

 sea birds on this coast will be comparatively free from molesta- 

 tion, except where rookeries are easy of access. I am not aware 

 that any special effort is being made to introduce the study of 

 birds into the schools, or that there is any movement towards 

 forming Audubon Societies other than the one at Redlands." 



Your Chairman, in his report of i8g6, referred to an appeal 

 that had been made to the Lighthouse Board to prohibit the col- 

 lection of eggs on the South Farallon Islands by the lighthouse 

 keepers stationed there. I am pleased to state that the Board, 

 in response to our appeal, prohibited in the most positive manner 

 the collecting of eggs by the following order : " The Board directs 

 that all egg and bird business of the kind in question on the 

 Farallon Islands, California, so far as outside parties are con- 

 cerned, be prohibited ; as to the collection of eggs and birds by 

 the lighthouse employes, you are also directed to take steps for 

 the proper regulation of this matter, subject to the Boards' 

 approval." Signed, Geo. F. F. Wilde, Commander, U. S. Navy, 

 Naval Secretary. 



By a further order, dated December lo, 1S96. directed to Com- 

 mander Frank Courtis, U. S. Navy, Inspector, 12th Lighthouse 

 District, the lighthouse keepers themselves were debarred from 



