

 270 ANNUAL REPOBTS OF WEPABTMENT OF AGRICULTUBE. 



BIRD RESERVATIONS. 



The 69 Federal bird reservations continue to furnish attractive 

 feeding, breeding, and resting places for many species of birds useful 

 on account of their value either for food, as insect destroyers, or for 

 their beauty. The value of well-chosen bird reservations as an asset 

 to the country is becoming more and more appreciated. Among the 

 most notable of the Federal reservations are those at Klamath and 

 Malheur Lakes, in Oregon, and Big Lake, in Arkansas. As funds 

 become available, it will be possible to develop some of these reserva- 

 tions and greatly increase their usefulness. 



Steps have been taken by interested parties to drain the water 

 from both the Klamath and Malheur reservations, to make the land 

 available for agricultural use. The resulting gain is more than 

 doubtful, while the loss would be a most serious one, not only to 

 Oregon but also to the other Pacific Coast States, owing to the fact 

 that these two bodies of water are the greatest inland breeding 

 resorts for wild fowl remaining on the west coast. To destroy 

 them would have a seriously detrimental effect on the future of the 

 wild fowl of this region. 



The continual progress of draining operations, whereby water is 

 drawn from marshy tracts and shallow lakes and the land is devoted 

 to agriculture, is rapidly cutting down the remaining feeding 

 grounds for wild fowl. For this reason every effort should be made 

 to retain a few specially desirable natural resorts for wild fowl in 

 various parts of the country. Failure to do this will result in a 

 decrease of our wild-fowl resources, which may occasion far more 

 lose than the agricultural value from these tracts will offset. 



In Florida, during the past year, a movement was on foot against 

 the brown pelicans on the ground that they were destroying food 

 fishes, and that for that reason during this time of national stress 

 they should be killed. As a result of the agitation a night raid was 

 made on the Pelican Island Reservation during the spring and about 

 400 young birds were wantonly killed. Investigation proved that 

 the charges against the pelicans had little real basis in fact, since 

 the fishes eaten by these birds are not of the species classed as food 

 fishes. 



An inspection of Passage Key Reservation, at the mouth of Tampa 

 Bay, showed that this valuable bird resort is being rapidly cut away 

 by sea currents. The ei*osion has reduced the island until during 

 storms the sea is driven across most of it, and there is little doubt 

 that within a comparatively short time it will be washed away. The 

 size of East Timbalier Island also is being much reduced by erosion. 



On the other Florida bird reservations visited, including those at 

 Charlotte Harbor and the Indian Key Reservation, near the mouth 

 of Tampa Bay, birds were nesting in large numbers and there was 

 no evidence that they were being molested. 



The rapid decrease in numbers of the sage hen, the largest and 

 one of the most interesting of the North American grouse, appears 

 to call for the establishment of preserves to safeguard it in several 

 parts of its range, notably in eastern Oregon and possibly in Wy- 

 oming, Utah, or Nevada. 



No warden service has been possible on the Hawaiian Islands 

 Reservation, but from information received from time to time from 



