Reports of Field Agents :2^^^ 



past year, the Oregon Fish Commission, at the request of commercial fishermen, 

 secured a special sea-going boat and equipped it for the purpose of extermi- 

 nating the Steller sea lions in all the colonies along the Oregon Coast. This 

 has been done because the fishermen claim that these animals are destroying 

 large numbers of young salmon. Scientific investigation carried on under the 

 cooperative direction of the California Fish Commission and the United States 

 Bureau of Fisheries showed that these animals live largely on squids or octopus 

 and other sea-food of no value. Yet, in the face of this, the sea lion colonies 

 off the Oregon coast have been raided, with the exception of those on Three 

 Arch Rocks Reservation. Opposite these a large warning has been posted by 

 the Biological Survey and the reservation has been guarded to prevent the 

 useless destruction of these creatures. 



REPORT OF HERBERT K. JOB, DEPARTMENT OF 

 APPLIED ORNITHOLOGY 



Seven years of effort have brought the Department to a point where the 

 whole subject and work of Applied Ornithology, with its various ramifications, 

 is well systematized, the material thoroughly in hand, and an ever-growing 

 constituency being aided and instructed. In fact, the work has very far out- 

 stripped its original conception. 



Though the cost of publication has made it still inexpedient to put out new 

 bulletins and leaflets incorporating the later results of our research work, the 

 former ones, which were very carefully prepared, still answer in the main for 

 practical needs. A steady volume of inquiries and requests for help continue 

 to come in. A recent one is from an agency for the sale of bird-houses, for 

 various details of information about habits and requirements of birds, with the 

 request that they may refer their customers to our Department for instruction — 

 which, of course, we are glad to grant. 



This Department, as one of the pioneer agencies in encouraging a broad 

 view as to propagation methods with so-called 'game' species and wild water- 

 fowl, has now lived to see this side of wild-bird conservation established as a 

 nation-wide industry, with invested capital in the millions of dollars and large 

 and increasing output. This movement has now a recognized 'trade magazine' 

 in The Game-Breeder, under the able leadership of our friends and allies, Dwight 

 W. Huntington and his son, John C. Huntington, with whom we work in 

 friendly cooperation, as well as with the other organizations interested in such 

 work. Not a small part of our work is in helping the many beginners who have 

 been taking up these practical and widely varied lines of effort. 



One practical detail of our work has attracted much attention, which is the 

 method used at our Amston Experiment Station for wintering wild Ducks by 

 means of our model aquatic house — original, but not patented! Frequently 

 we are called upon to furnish plans and specifications for building similar 



