THE MISSISSIPPI RESERVES 285 



life.) It was the Audubon Society which 

 started the movement for the estabHshment of 

 bird refuges. The society now protects and 

 poKces about one hundred of these refuges, 

 which, of course, are worthless unless thus 

 protected. 



The Royal Tern is commanded by Captain 

 William Sprinkle, born and bred on this Gulf 

 coast, who knows the sea-fowl, and the islands 

 where they breed and dwell, as he knows the 

 winds and the lovely, smiling, treacherous Gulf 

 waters. He is game warden, and he and the 

 Royal Tern are the police force for over five 

 hundred square miles of sand-bars, shallow 

 waters, and intricate channels. The man and 

 the boat are two of the chief obstacles in the 

 way of the poachers, the plume-hunters, and 

 eggers, who always threaten these bird sanc- 

 tuaries. 



Many of these poachers are at heart good 

 men, who follow their fathers' business, just as 

 respectable men on the seacoast once followed 

 the business of wrecking. But when times 

 change and a once acknowledged trade comes 

 under the ban of the law the character of those 

 following it also changes for the worse. Wreck- 

 ers are no longer respectable, and plume-hunters 

 and eggers are sinking to the same level. The 



