Reports of Field Agents 345 



Massachusetts. — The Association was put upon the defensive, in Mas- 

 sachusetts, by the large number of bills introduced in opposition to the interest 

 of bird protectors. A very strong effort was made to extend the season on 

 wild fowl beyond January first. Several bills were introduced for this pur- 

 pose, naming different dates for the close of the season. But, after a long and 

 tedious legislative fight, all of them were finally and decidedly defeated, a& 

 were all other bills intended to extend the shooting season. Included in these 

 were bills to allow the killing of deer in sections of the state where they are 

 now protected at all times. Several bills for the conservation of birds and game 

 were passed. The close season on the Wood Duck was extended five years. 

 Night shooting of wild fowl was prohibited. The use of live decoys for the hunt- 

 ing of wild fowl was forbidden in the county of Nantucket, and the law on hares- 

 and rabbits was modified by prohibiting the digging-out of these animals. 

 The sum of $10,000 was appropriated for one or more game farms. The 

 Hunters' License Bill was redrafted and strengthened in some ways; but a 

 provision was admitted which permits members of certain Massachusetts 

 clubs residing outside the state to shoot within the state, under a license 

 with a fee of only one dollar. The National Association of Audubon Societies- 

 has advocated, for years, laws establishing public reservations for the protec- 

 tion of birds. Massachusetts, following this idea, has made all public lands- 

 reservations for the protection of birds and game. This year, another act was 

 passed, which enables the Commissioners on Fisheries and Game to take 

 private lands, for a series of years, to declare them state game preserves, and 

 to protect and propagate birds and quadrupeds upon them. The project to 

 take Benson's Pond, a state pond in Middleboro, and turn it over to a cor- 

 poration, was heard before the Harbor and Land Commissioners, to whom 

 the matter was referred by the General Court of Massachusetts, in 1 910. 



Two hearings were held, one at Middleboro, Mass., where the Association 

 was represented by its counsel, James A. Lowell, Esq., and the other at the 

 State House in Boston. The hearings were largely attended, and much oppo- 

 sition to the plan was manifested. The Commissioners on Harbors and Lands 

 reported impartially, but their report was rather against the plan. Never- 

 theless, a bill covering the project was assigned a hearing before the Committee 

 on Harbors and Lands in the Legislature, but the pertitioners finally withdrew. 

 Apparently this disposes of the scheme to take a state pond from the pubHc. 

 Had the plan succeeded, it would have formed a precedent under which other 

 shallow ponds which now offer breeding-places and bathing-places for birds 

 could have been taken. 



Another attempt was made this year to pass a law which would permit 

 hunting on certain lands of the metropolitan water-board which are now 

 public reservations. This was strongly opposed, and was defeated. 



Several attempts were made, as in past years, to secure a change in the 

 Fish and Game Commission. Bills were introduced to abolish it, and to con- 



