The Believing Years

st interest that the United States Government manifested in the subject was about thirteen years ago. On May 29, 1901, the legislature of Florida was induced to enact a statute mak

imed in another with a keen eye to the main chance. There was talk of repealing the law at the next session of the legislature, and the hearts of the Audubon workers were troubled. At first they thought of buying the island, so as to be in a position to protect its feathered inhabitants by preventing trespass. However, it proved to be unsurveyed Government land, and the idea was suggested of getting the Government to make a reservation for the protection

upon learning from their warden that when the Pelicans returned that season to occupy the island as before, they took one look at this declaration of the President and immediately departed, one and all, to a neighbouring island

nal bird reservations. The legal difficulties thus removed, the way lay open for the creation of other bird reservations, and the Audubon Society seized the opportunity. Explorations were started to locate other Government territories containing important coloni

odpecker is

d by sea birds in order that fresh eggs might subsequently be gathered into the boats waiting at anchor off shore. No wonder that

by the Federal reservation work of 1905, that he declared in his annual report that the existence of the Association was just

Ducks, and Cormorants in summer, and a safe harbour for wild fowl during the spring and fall migrations. Huron Island and Siskiwit in Lake Superior, the

first knew the country. Thousands of Herons of various species, as well as Terns and shore birds, make this their home. Dainty little Ground Doves flutter in and out among the cactus on

out the consent of the Secretary of Agriculture. With one stroke of his pen he brought this desirable condition into exist

k of ornithological exploration was carried forward. Every island, mud flat, and sand bar along the coast of the Mexican Gulf, from Texas to Key West, was visited by trained ornithologists who reported their findings to the

nal reservations were soon created along the west coast of Florida, thus extending a perpetual guardianship over the colonies of sea

er home of myriads of Ducks, Geese, Grebes, White Pelicans, and other wild waterfowl, and never a week passes that the waters of the lake a

y margins and lonely islands in the sea, they have been made to includ

h other about on the ledges which overlook the dark waters of Bering Sea. One reservation in Alaska covers much of the lower delta of the Yukon, including the great tundra country south of the river, embracing within its borders a territory greater than the State of Connecticut. From the standpoint of preserving rare species of birds this is doubtless one of the most important

come "Love Birds" or White Terns, and Albatrosses, great winged wonders whose home is on the rolling deep. The number seems almost beyond belief to men and women unfamiliar with bird life in congested colonies. On February 3, 1909, thes

h no funds were available for establishing a warden patrol among them, it was fondly hoped that the notice t

. Early in 1910 the vessel returned, bringing with her twenty-three Japanese feather hunters who had been captured at their work of destruction. In the hold of the vessel were stored two hundred and fifty-nine thousand pairs of wings, two and a half tons of b

Canal Zone, which is in charge of the Panama Canal Commission. With this exception and that of the Pribilof Reservation, which is in charge of the Bureau of Fisheries, all Government bird reservations are under the care of the Department of Agriculture, and their administration is directed by the Burea

IONAL BIRD

AME D

BLIS

sland, Fla.

sland, La.

ke, N. Dak.

ands, Mich.

slands, Mich.

Key, Fla. O

ey, Fla. Fe

ands, La. A

eys, La. A

Rocks, Oregon

Rocks, Wash.

Needles, Wash

Rock, Wash.

balier, La.

Inlet, Fla.

Keys, Fla.

st, Fla. A

Lake, Oregon

heur, Oregon

ke, N. Dak.

and, Fla. Se

ola, Fla. S

Pass, Fla.

Bay, Fla. O

rine, Wyo. O

Islands, Hawa

ver, Ariz.

rk, Cal. Fe

at, Idaho F

reek, Mont.

d, N. Mex.

de, N. Mex.

ings, Oregon

rche, S. Dak.

y Valley, Uta

us, Wash. F

s, Wash. F

m, Wash. F

Lake, Wash.

lly, Wash.

der, Wyo. F

ne, Wyo. F

a, Idaho Fe

ea, Alaska F

, Alaska Fe

ria, Alaska

lta, Alaska

a, P. R. F

n, Calif. F

f, Alaska F

f, Alaska M

ke, Calif. A

Island, Alaska

ands, Alaska

a, Nebr. Ja

ay, Wis. Fe

Island, Alask

, Montana D

Island, P. R.

sland, Wis.

Islands, Alas

Lake, Ark.

sland, Ala. and

land, Nevada

land, Wash.

ok, Wash. J

s Spit, Wash

e, Arkansas

nd, Californi

tte, Nebraska

ies are usually situated on islands where the birds are comparatively free from the attacks of natural enemies; hence the question of guarding them resolves itself mainly into the question of keeping people from disturbing the birds during the late spring and summer months. Painted signs will not do this. Men hired for the purpose constitute the only adequate means. Some of the protected islands have been bought or leased by the Audubon Society, but in many cases they are still under private ownership and the priv

onger than can be told in one short chapter. The protected colonies are located mainly in the low swampy regions of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. I have been in many of these "rookeries"

ravelled thirty miles without seeing a human being or a human habitation, we killed a rattlesnake and proceeded to make camp. The shouting of a pair of Sandhill Cranes awakened us at daylight, and, to quote Greene, the warden, the

u are sure to gather on your clothing a colony of ravenous ticks from some swaying branch. Redbugs bent on mischief scramble up on you by the score and bury themselves in your skin, while a cloud of mosquitoes waves behind you like a veil. In the sombre shadows through which you move you hav

ared to be uniform in size, and presented an absolutely level surface except in a few places where slight elevations indica

er orchids greeted us everywhere. From the boughs overhead long streamers of gray Spanish moss waved and beckoned in the breeze. Still higher, on gaunt branches of giant

tesque

innocent of feathers but also destitute of skin-"Flintheads," the people call the bird. Its bill is nearly ten inches long, slightly curved and very massive. Woe to the unlucky fish or luckless rat upon whom a blow falls from the Flinthead's heavy beak! There were probably one hund

Audubon class at Fer

hite Egrets. These snow-white models of grace and beauty have been persecuted for their plumes almos

ing cattle, but I knew better-they were after Egrets and came to see if I was on guard. I told them if they saw any one after plumes to pass the word that I would shoot on sight any man with a gun who attempted to enter the Corkscrew. I would do it

Young

ed in the low bushes, numerous cotton-mouthed water-moccasins lie in wait. Silently and motionless they watch and listen, now and then raising their heads when a light splash tells them of the approach of some heedless frog, or of the falling of some dead fish like manna from the nests above. May is the dr

ut. A successful shooting trip of plume hunters to the Corkscrew might well net the gunners as much as five thousand dollars, and in a country where money is scarce that would mean a magnificent fortune. The warden is fully alive to this fact, and is

while guarding for the Audubon Society the Cuthbert Egret Rookery. On Orange Lake, northward, the warden in charge still carries in his body a bullet from a plume gatherer's gun. Only three days before my visit

he guarded. The next day I was to leave him, and night after night he would sit by his fire, a lonely representative of the Audubon Society away