INTRODUCTION 



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the demand for the market. Sea Gulls along the coast, Terns, Grebes, Ducks, Geese, and 

 others in the West were in imminent danger from this cause. vSo the National Association 

 of Audubon Societies began to look for breeding places of Ducks and other birds in the West. 

 Examination was made in various parts of the country and many more bird reservations 

 were the result. When President Roosevelt went out of office, we had thirty-eight bird 

 reserves. President Taft took an interest in the subject and also segregated quite a number. 

 One of the largest of these bird-sanctuaries is the delta of the Yukon, which is as large as the 

 State of Connecticut. 



One bird reserve was created in the 

 western group of the Hawaiian Islands, 

 including the Laysan Island. This, by the 

 way, was raided in the summer of 1915 by 

 Japanese feather hunters. The Pribilof 

 Islands were also made a reserve, as well as 

 the Aleutian Chain. There are to-day 

 seventy United States bird-reserves in 

 all. At first the Government made no 

 appropriation to protect and guard these 

 birds. Therefore, it became the duty of the 

 Audubon Society to ask for aid from its 

 members and friends who were willing to 

 give money for an idea — people willing to 

 provide funds to protect Egrets in Florida 

 or Cormorants and Gulls on the Three-Arch 

 Rocks in Oregon, whether or not they could 

 ever hope to see personally the sanctuaries. 

 After the lapse of si.K years, the Government 

 made a small grant for the purpose, 

 although, to-day, the Audubon Society 

 owns and operates the patrol launches on 

 the Government reserves, and still helps to 

 pay the salaries of some of the wardens. 

 The Government is appropriating more 

 money each year to this work, and the 

 gentlemen of the Biological Survey who 

 have the work in charge are exercising 

 every means at their command to success- 

 fully protect the birds. 



President Wilson made the Panama 

 Canal Zone a bird-reserve in 1913. There 

 are many bird-reserves which the Audubon 

 Society is protecting that are not on 

 Governinent territory. These are cared for 

 by the Society's paid agents. The islands 



along the coast of Maine are great breeding places for sea-fowl of various kinds. There are 

 forty-two islands where they nest, and there are sixteen Audubon wardens in service there in 

 summer. The Society also has wardens guarding islands along the coasts of Connecticut, 

 New York, New Jersey, and North Carolina. There are still others in Florida and Louisiana. 

 About sixty important colonies of water-birds are pnrtected by the Audubon Society in the 

 southern states. It has been able to buy some and to lease others. In some cases merely the 

 consent of the owners is obtained. The result is that certain water-birds on the Atlantic 

 coast, such as Herring Gulls and several species of Terns, have come back in great numbers. 

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T. GILBERT PEARSON PHOTOGRAPHJNG YOUNG 

 HERONS 



In the marshes of Klamath Lake, Oregon 



