BIRDS HUNTED FOR FOOD OR SPORT. 389 



generally, until 1831, when it had become very rare if not 

 extinct on the mainland. Then the Legislature passed a special 

 act to protect it during the breeding season only, from March 1 

 to September 1, with a penalty of only two dollars. Under this 

 act the Heath Hen had been nearly, or quite, exterminated 

 from the mainland, when in 1837 a close season of four years 

 was declared, with a penalty of two dollars and a forfeit of the 

 same sum to the landowner. This close season was extended 

 five years more in 1841, but these acts permitted any town 

 to suspend the law within its own limits by vote of any regularly 

 called town meeting. Some towns took advantage of this, 

 thus nullifying the law in the only tovms where the birds still 

 existed. On May 6, 1842, for example, the Tisbury town 

 meeting voted to allow the townspeople (hunting without 

 dogs) to take, kill or sell Grouse or Heath Hens from December 

 1 to December 10. In 1844 the close season was extended for 

 five years more; but the birds evidently had decreased in their 

 last stronghold on Martha's Vineyard, for on April 1, 1850, 

 the town of Tisbury voted to suspend the law so as to allow 

 hunting only on the "12th and 13th of November next." In 

 1855 all protection was removed, but for five years the Heath 

 Hen existed without it. In 1860 it was protected again by law 

 at all times; but in 1870 the period of protection was limited to 

 five years. Thus, under periodical juggling of the statutes, 

 the species managed to exist, protected most of the time until 

 the year 1907, when Mr. John E. Howland of Vineyard Haven, 

 finding it in imminent danger of extinction, agitated the ques- 

 tion of establishing a Heath Hen reservation. Owing to the 

 cordial and energetic co-operation of Dr. George W. Field, 

 chairman of the Massachusetts Commission on Fisheries and 

 Game, a protector was located in the breeding grounds of the 

 birds. Dr. Field secured contributions from public-spirited 

 citizens for the purchase of land for a reservation. The towns 

 of Tisbury and West Tisbury contributed to the good work 

 and the sum of $2,420 was collected. A bill was introduced 

 into the Legislature by Representative Mayhew of Martha's 

 Vineyard, placing under the control of the Commissioners on 

 Fisheries and Game such lands as might be leased, given or 



