2 BULLETIN 292, X7. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



services in cleaning up such material are not to be regarded lightly. 

 It will surprise many to learn that certain gulls render important in- 

 land service, especially to agriculture. At least one species, the Cali- 

 fornia gull, is extremely fond of field mice, and during an out- 

 break of that pest in Nevada in 1907-8 hundreds of gulls assembled 

 in and near the devastated alfalfa fields and fed entirely on mice, 

 thus lending the farmers material aid in their warfare against the 

 pestiferous little rodents. The skua also feeds on mice and lemmings. 

 Several species of gulls render valuable service to agriculture by 

 destroying insects also, and in spring hundreds of Franklin's gulls 

 in Wisconsin and the Dakotas follow the plowman to pick up the 

 insect larvae uncovered by the share. 



That at least one community has not been unmindful of the sub- 

 stantial debt it owes the gull is attested in Salt Lake City, where 

 stands a monument surmounted by a bronze figure of two gulls, 

 erected by the people of that city "in grateful remembrance" of the 

 signal service rendered by these birds at a critical time in the his- 

 tory of the community. For three consecutive years — 1848 to 1850— 

 black crickets by millions threatened to ruin the crops upon which 

 depended the very lives of the settlers. Large flocks of California 

 gulls came to the rescue and devoured vast numbers of the destruc- 

 tive insects, until the fields were entirely freed from them. It is no 

 wonder that the sentiment of the people of Utah as reflected through 

 their laws affords gulls the fullest protection. It would be well if such 

 sentiment prevailed elsewhere throughout the United States. How- 

 ever, within the last few years much progress has been made in 

 protecting these most beautiful dwellers of coasts and marshes. 



BliJD REFUGES. 



On March 14, 1903, President Roosevelt issued an Executive order 

 making Pelican Island, Fla., a bird reservation — the first established 

 in the United States. To-day there are 68 bird reservations, vary- 

 ing in size from a few acres to many hundred square miles. Some 

 27 of these, situated on the scacoast or on islands in the Great Lakes, 

 are resorted to by gulls during the breeding season, and here these 

 birds find safety from human molestation, while local wardens have 

 endeavored to reduce their native wild enemies to a minimimi. The 

 27 national bird reservations frequented by gulls are: Breton Island, 

 Tern Islands, East Timbalier Island, and Shell Keys, La.; Passage 

 Key and Matlacha Pass, Fla. ; Huron and Siskiwit Islands, Mich. ; 

 Lake Malheur, Klamath Lake, and Three Arch Rocks, Oreg. ; Flat- 

 tery Rocks, Quillayute Needles, and Copalis Rock, Wash.; Chase 

 Lake, N. Dak. ; Clear Lake and the FaraUon Islands, Cal. ; Green Bay, 

 Wis. ; and nine reservations in Alaska. 



