Reports of Field Agents 345 



REPORTS OF FIELD AGENTS 



REPORT OF EDWARD HOW^E FORBUSH, FIELD AGENT 

 FOR NEW ENGLAND 



There is much to be said about the protection of birds in New England 

 during the past year, but for lack of space this report must be devoted to two 

 important topics: (i) The danger that menaces the Gulls and Terns of New 

 England; (2) the increasing destruction of small birds by gunners. 



It is well known that the greatest nurseries of sea-birds in New England 

 are located on certain islands off the Maine coast. There the Gulls and Terns 

 are protected by wardens employed by the National Association of Audubon 

 Societies, and there these birds have increased largely within recent years. In 

 that region there are many islands well offshore, so situated that the protection 

 of the birds breeding upon them is not difficult. On some of the islands Petrels 

 may have been decreased or extirpated by dogs and cats, and the Eider Ducks 

 are barely holding their own, but, on the whole, the protective work there has 

 been eminently successful. One colony of Herring Gulls on the New Hampshire 

 coast, which is continually raided by eggers, will be exterminated if it is not 

 protected soon by a warden. 



On the Massachusetts coast. Gulls and Terns have been increasing under 

 protection for years, but now they have reached their height, and this year 

 they have begun to decrease. Here many of their breeding-places are on 

 islands close to the coast in bays or harbors or even on the mainland. In such 

 locations protection becomes difficult. The National Association has but one 

 warden on the Massachusetts coast. Other protection that has been given the 

 birds in the past has been either by local authorities or by the Massachusetts 

 Conservation Commission. Recently protection has been extended to only 

 five colonies, and this year there has been no caretaker for the Least Terns on 

 the south coast of Martha's Vineyard. 



Arctic Terns are not known to breed anywhere south of Massachusetts. 

 The lovely Roseate Terns nest nowhere else in the Northeast, with the ex- 

 ception of a few birds which may still breed on some of the islands of Maine 

 and Nova Scotia. Massachusetts is believed to be the last stronghold of Least 

 Terns north of Virginia. Elsewhere in the East they are believed to have been 

 extirpated. Probably the number now breeding in Massachusetts is less than 

 200. Only the strictest protection can possibly save them. 



Herring Gulls have been breeding for several years in two localities in 

 Massachusetts, but their numbers are small. They are so situated that very 

 little protection can be afforded them, and probably they will be unable to 

 maintain themselves long. 



Common Terns are breeding on Muskeget, Penikese, Gull, the Wepeckets, 

 Pine, and several other small islands, as well as on Martha's Vineyard and 

 Nantucket and along the shores of Cape Cod. This year, however, their 



