Reports of Field Agents 495 



Mr. Forbush, the State Societies have been revived and assisted in getting 

 upon a strong basis, as the reports of their secretaries show. The New Hamp- 

 shire Society has been particularly successful. In Rhode Island splendid work 

 has been done by the friends of bird-protection under the leadership of Harry S. 

 Hathaway of Providence, as reported by Secretary Madison. Notable changes 

 for the betterment of conditions in Rhode Island were the change in the state 

 law to conform to the Federal regulations; the sale of Wild Ducks, Swans, 

 Geese, and Rails, was prohibited; also snaring of any kind. A provision allow- 

 ing the propagation and sale of Hungarian Partridges was repealed, thus pre- 

 venting the sale of Ruflfed Grouse picked. The bounty on Hawks, Crows, and 

 Owls was repealed; protection was removed from the English Starling to the 

 extent that a person may shoot the birds on his own land; and the Crow 

 Blackbird was put upon the protected list. In this and other improvements 

 your Field Agent has given such aid as he could. 



It is good to be able to report an ever-increasing sentiment in favor of bird- 

 protection. Restrictive laws come more easily now than ever before, and the 

 sentiment in favor of their strict enforcement grows rapidly. Massachusetts 

 is now in the throes of an open season on Pheasants, for the first time in many 

 years. These birds have been fed everywhere, and in suburban communities 

 have become as tame as chickens. On the first day of the open season 

 3,000 were slaughtered, to the dismay and distress of the people. As a 

 result, the sentiment against an open season for these birds is very strong, 

 and it is certain that more restrictions will be loudly called for throughout 

 the state. 



REPORT OF KATHARINE H. STUART, FIELD AGENTi 



FOR VIRGINIA 



As the years go by, there can be but little variation in the reports of your 

 Field Agent. "Precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there 

 a little," must characterize the most earnest efforts one can make in this 

 educational work, especially in the South. Hence, results cannot be measured 

 by these annual reports, nor can the vast and varied amount of work done 

 be told in a small space. 



The plan formulated by the National Association, under the Mrs. Russell 

 Sage fund, to train the young through organized classes in the schools, and by 

 giving instruction by leaflets, has been a great boon to Virginia, and the state- 

 wide awakening in bird-protection is traceable to it. Hundreds of parents, 

 all over the state, have told me that the joy of their boys and girls in the 

 Junior Audubon Classes, and their bringing into the home the Educational 

 Leaflets, had first aroused them to a sense of the importance of bird- 

 conservation. 



The month of September is given to planning my year's work, and the 



