REPORT OF T. GILBERT PEARSON, SECRETARY 



INTRODUCTION 



Mr. Herbert C. Hoover, United States Food Administrator, writing the 

 Editor of the People's Home Journal some time ago, said, "I hope the people 

 of the United States reahze how closely related to this whole question of food- 

 saving is the question of the protection and encouragement of insectivorous 

 and migratory birds." 



This same feeling has been prominent in the minds of the members of the 

 National Association of Audubon Societies and the various organizations 

 associated with it in the work for bird-protection the past year. Increased 

 acreage under cultivation very naturally means more insects, and more insects, 

 in turn, means the need for more birds to combat them. Hence, perhaps greater 

 than ever before in this country, there has been a need for Audubon Society 

 service. 



There has been determined effort on the part of certain land agents in 

 Oregon and California to wrest from the Government the title to Klamath 

 and Malheur Bird Reservations, in order that these vast bird-refuges may be 

 drained and converted into ranches. The Association is combating these 

 efforts with the greatest energy, and Mr. Finley, our Oregon agent, is now 

 working with the Biological Survey to secure a law in Oregon which will save 

 these Reservations for all time. 



A great cry has arisen of late that the sheep-raising industry on the islands 

 off the coast of Maine is being ruined because of the presence of the Herring 

 Gull colonies. Arthur H. Norton was sent to investigate the matter, and 

 his reports thus far received tend to show that the presence of the Gulls 

 on the islands is responsible for improving the grass-supply rather than 

 destroying it. 



In response to a request from the United States Food Administration, the 

 Secretary, in June, investigated the feeding-habits of the Brown Pelican along 

 the Gulf Coast of the United States from Corpus Christi, Texas, to Key 

 West, Fla. In this work he had the cooperation of the Conservation Com- 

 missions of Texas, Louisiana, and Florida. Every known breeding colony of 

 Pelicans on the Gulf Coast was visited. The birds were found to be far less 

 numerous than reputed, the number of adult birds being estimated at 65,000. 

 Their food was found to consist almost wholly of fish never eaten by man. 

 A more extended account of these investigations will probably be published in 

 the near future. The expense of this undertaking was borne by the income 

 from the Mary Dutcher Memorial Fund. 



The Secretary also engaged in a lengthy controversy with influential inter- 

 ests that sought to get possession of Stinking Lake, N. Mex., as a private shoot- 

 ing-preserve. In the end, the Department of the Interior, which controlled the 



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