BIOLOGICAL SURVEY. 247 



many more of the reservations which are located on reclamation 

 projects or in national forests. The Lighthouse Service has cooper- 

 ated in protecting the Siskiwit and Huron Islands Reservations in 

 Michigan, and the Smith Island Reservation in Washington ; and the 

 Coast Guard Service, of the Treasury Department, and the Navy 

 Department have cooperated in guarding the Hawaiian Islands 

 Reservation. About 20 reservations are at present without warden 

 service of any kind, but half of these are so remote or difficult of 

 access that there is comparatively little danger of the birds being 

 molested. Of the others, Avarden service is urgently needed on Big 

 Lake, Ark.; Aleutian Islands, Alaska; East Timbalier, La.; and 

 on the Hawaiian Islands. 



Several projects for draining lands in the vicinity of the Klamath 

 and Malheur Reservations in Oregon and the Big Lake Reservation 

 in Arkansas, as well as projects of similar kind for draining private 

 lands in various parts of the country, emphasize the importance and 

 necessity of retaining as breeding grounds for waterfowl and other 

 birds tracts of land which are not especially valuable for agricultural 

 purposes. Only in this way can proper provision be made for the 

 maintenance and increase of an adequate supply of waterfowl. The 

 area of marsh land necessary for breeding grounds is insignificant 

 in comparison with the area over which the birds will spread during 

 their migration and the benefits which will accrue to States and the 

 general public through the increase of this important element in our 

 supply of game birds. 



Klamath Lake, Oreg. — Conditions on the reservation are some- 

 what unsatisfactory, owing to the uncertainty as to various plans for 

 draining the lands on the Klamath Reclamation Project. Construc- 

 tion of a railroad embankment several years ago has increased the 

 difficulty of patrolling the reservation, but has also made it difficult 

 for boats to reach the lower part of the lake, and consequently the 

 birds are less disturbed during the breeding season. In October a 

 tule fire burned over a large area in the southwestern part of the 

 reservation, destroying many minks and driving out the birds. This 

 fire also burned fences and damaged pasture lands on several neigh- 

 boring private holdings. Since the elimination of lands in 1915, a 

 number of applications have been made for permits to file homestead 

 entries within the reservation, but all have been rejected, both by 

 the local office and, on appeal, by the General Land Office. 



Lake Malheur, Oreg. — The usual large number of waterfowl and 

 shorebirds bred on the reservation during the past season and 4,635 

 muskrats and 17 minks were trapped during the open season in fall 

 and early winter. A recent report indicates that many muskrats 

 were frozen to death during severe weather late in the winter. 

 Several well-defined movements have been set on foot at various times 

 to drain Malheur Lake and throw the land thus reclaimed open to 

 settlement. One of the latest plans is to shut off the water now flow- 

 ing into the lake through Blitzen and Silvie Rivers and deepen the 

 outlet to Harney Lake. Malheur Lake is very shallow and 12 feet 

 higher than Harney, and by deepening the channel its waters would 

 drain into Harney Lake and much of the surrounding marsh and tule 

 land be reclaimed. No actual work on this project has yet been 

 undertaken. 



