Reports of Field Agents 407 



REPORTS OF FIELD AGENTS 



REPORT OF EDWARD HOWE FORBUSH, FIELD AGENT 

 FOR NEW ENGLAND 



The interest in legislation for the protection of birds in New England has 

 been largely transferred to Washington, in the hope that through the treaty 

 with Great Britain, under which migratory birds of the United States and 

 Canada are protected, we might get efficient federal protection of migratory 

 species. Your agent has done what he could toward the passage of an enabUng 

 act, under which the provisions of the treaty might be enforced. It is now well 

 known that thus far this act has passed the United States Senate only and has 

 failed in the House. Let us hope that it may be passed by the House at the 

 next session. 



During the year your agent has delivered about fifty lectures. At a meeting 

 of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture at Springfield, Mass., a 

 lecture was given in the auditorium to over 3,000 people, at which motion- 

 pictures furnished by the National Association, and taken by Herbert K. Job, 

 were exhibited, to the delight of the audience. 



In April, 19 17, an investigation of the present condition of the Heath Hen 

 was instituted. On my inspection of the reservation on Martha's Vineyard in 



19 16, fully 800 birds were accounted for, and the superintendent of the reserva- 

 tion beheved there were 2,000 on the island, but on May 12 of that year a very 

 destructive fire swept that part of the island devoted to the birds, and in April, 



191 7, less than 50 pairs of birds could be accounted for. The fire of 19 16 

 occurred just as the birds were beginning to nest. Probably very few Heath Hens 

 bred that year, and many of them may have been destroyed by the fire, 

 although few remains were found; but the fire swept away the cover so that 

 they were exposed on the burned and blackened ground to the attacks of their 

 enemies. It destroyed a large part of their food and ruined the prospect of an 

 acorn crop for the winter, and then in the autumn an unprecedented flight of 

 Goshawks came to the island from the North and undoubtedly destroyed a 

 large share of the remaining birds during the winter. 



The superintendent, being required to patrol the entire island to enforce 

 the game laws, could spend only a part of his time in the actual protection of 

 the Heath Hen. During a visit to the island in October, 191 7, very little 

 evidence was found of the rearing of young birds this year, and from all appear- 

 ances the Heath Hen now is rapidly moving toward extinction. A few birds 

 have been sent to Long Island, and some to Wenham, Mass., but in neither 

 of these locahties have they reared any young. Nevertheless, if the few re- 

 maining birds survive, the winter conditions will be better for them on the 

 island than for several years. The fire has killed most of the large trees about 

 the reservation, and the resvilting low growth is exactly what the birds seem to 



