344 BiTd - Lore 



at all times was extended, and similar protection was granted the Upland 

 Plover. In general, the laws protecting birds and the smaller mammals were 

 strengthened, rather than weakened, and the result of the session's work 

 was gratifying. The session was finished before February i, 191 1. 



Maine. — Your agent was able to spend very little time in Maine, and the 

 legislative work there was left mainly in the capable hands of Mr. Arthur H. 

 Norton, Curator of the Portland Natural History Society, and Secretary of 

 the Maine Audubon Society. Mr. Norton was urged to secure a perpetual 

 close season on the Wood Duck. This he accomplished. Further details of 

 the work in Maine will be found in his report, and need not be repeated here. 



New Hampshire. — At the beginning of the legislative session, the out- 

 look for bird and game protection in New Hampshire was not good. The 

 National Association used all its influence, in 1909, to secure the passage of 

 a hunters' license law to provide funds for the protection of game and birds. 

 The bill narrowly escaped defeat in its first stages, but was finally passed by 

 a large majority; but the politicians wanted the money from the prospective 

 licenses for other purposes, and, on the last day of the session of 1909, a measure 

 was quietly passed, which, while not referring specifically to the hunters' 

 license, resulted in placing all the money received for hunters' licenses in the 

 general treasury funds. This left the Commissioners for two years without 

 means to employ wardens to enforce the law. This year, an attempt was made 

 to secure, for the use of the Commissioners, $50,000 of the $70,000 which had 

 been collected as license fees and fines and turned into the treasury. After a 

 long and tedious fight, the appropriation finally was made, but only $8,000 

 was assigned for detective purposes. Another fight must be made in 1913, to 

 secure every dollar paid in by the hunters for use in game protection. The 

 close season on the Upland Plover and Wood Duck in New Hamsphire expired 

 in 1911. An attempt to renew it met with some opposition, but it was finally 

 extended until 1916. Under the misleading title of a bill for the protection of 

 trout, a statute was quickly enacted which, in its last section, removed all pro- 

 tection from the Great Blue Heron. It met with no opposition, as its title 

 misled the friends of the birds. After its passage, there was a sudden awaken- 

 ing of the members of the New Hampshire Audubon Society. Your agent 

 was appealed to; a bill was introduced repealing the act for the "protection" 

 of trout and, after a well-attended hearing before the Committee on Fisheries 

 and Game, it was passed and signed by the Governor, and the Great Blue 

 Heron is still protected by law in New Hampshire. Mink, Sable, Otter, Musk- 

 rats, Skunks and Foxes, are now protected between April i and October 15, 

 but the law allows a person to kill foxes and skunks at any time on his own 

 land. This provision was inserted as a protection to the farmer. Acts were 

 passed for the purpose of rendering hunters more careful of fire and firearms, 

 and a large number of bills inimical to bird and game provisions were 

 defeated. 



