INTRODUCTION 



XV 



food and lodging in abundance, and of the best, will be supplied, where bathing-pools will 

 be at their service, where blossoming trees will welcome them in the spring, and fields of grain 

 in the fall, quiet places where these privileges will bring to the birds much joy and con- 

 tentment. Throughout this country there should be a concerted effort to convert the ceme- 

 teries, city parks, and estates into sanctuaries for the bird-life of this land. 



With a little trouble, seasoned with good judgment, one may soon have birds feeding 

 on a tray within a few yards of the window or even on the window sill. Abundant oppor- 

 tunity is thus given for photographing birds under the best possible conditions for successful 

 results. With every possible convenience at hand one may get better pictures of birds on a 

 feeding tray than one could ever hope to do in a state of wild Nature. 



Photographing birds then is an excellent occupation, for the merest novice may hope 

 for success. It is a good thing to do this too from the standpoint of the bird's well being. 

 I have never known a bird j^hotographer who was not a bird lover; for to know the birds is 

 to protect them. 



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Photograph by W. L. Fmluy 



H. T. BOHLMAN PHOTOGRAPHING A COLONY OF WHITE PELICANS AND CORMORANTS IN TULE LAKE, 



NORTHERN CALIFORNIA 



Present operations in the United States, in the line of bird-reservations, grew out of the 

 distinct need of preserving certain classes of birds from becoming e.\tinct. The birds that we 

 may distinctly call farm-land birds, such as the native Sparrows, the Warblers, Wrens, 

 Orioles, and many other common insectivorous birds, have increased in America since the 

 advent of white man. 



It is chiefly the birds that could be commercialized, either for their flesh, or their feathers 

 that have suffered great diminution in numbers in North America as a result of man's activ- 

 ities. An important effort to preserve this class of birds is now being carried on in the United 

 States by the establishment of bird-reservations. Reservation work began in 1Q02, under 

 the National Association of Audubon Societies. This is the best organized and most liberally 

 financed bird protective organization in the world, and has been in active operation for 

 many years. 



One of the States that early adopted the Audubon Law was Florida. On the Atlantic 

 coast of that state, in Indian River, there is an island of about four acres, where two thousand 



