EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT 



Edited by WILLIAM DUTCHER 



Address all correspondence, and send all remittances for dues and contributions, to 

 the National Association of Audubon Societies, 141 Broadway, New York City 



TWO NEW BIRD RESERVATIONS 

 The Tortugas Reservation 



Since the year the Thayer fund was 

 established, special protection has been 

 given to the large bird colony on Bird Key 

 in the Tortugas, with the result that, from 

 a very small colony of Sooty and Noddy 

 Terns, this island now supports very large 

 numbers of these interesting birds, as 

 shown by the report of Prof. John B. Wat- 

 son, published in December (1907) Bird- 

 Lore. Recently, application was made to 

 President Roosevelt to have the entire 

 Tortugas group set aside as a bird reser- 

 vation, and, with his usual willingness to 

 help this Association in its bird protection, 

 he issued the following: 



Executive Order 



It is hereby ordered that all islands em- 

 braced within the group known as the 

 Dry Tortugas, located in the Gulf of 

 Mexico, near the western extremity of 

 the Florida Keys, approximately in latitude 

 twenty-four degrees, thirty-eight minutes 

 north, longitude eighty-two degrees, fifty- 

 two minutes west from Greenwich, and 

 situated within the area segregated by a 

 broken line upon the diagram hereto at- 

 tached and made a part of this order, are 

 hereby reserved and set aside for the use 

 of the Department of Agriculture as a 

 preserve and breeding-ground for native 

 birds; but the reservation made by this 

 order is not intended to interfere with the 

 use of these islands for necessary military 

 purposes under the Executive Order of 

 September 17, 1845, creating the Dry 

 Tortugas Military Reservation, nor to, 

 in anv manner, vacate such order, except 



that such military use shall not extend to 

 the occupation of the islet known as Bird 

 Key. This reservation to be known as 

 Tortugas Keys Reservation. 



Theodore Roosevelt. 

 The White House, 



April 6, 1908. 



(No. 779) 



The Niobrara Reservation 



In September, 1907, one of our valued 

 correspondents wrote as follows: "The 

 Government has in the Fort Niobrara 

 Military Reservation, Nebraska, about 

 55,000 acres of sand plains and sand hills, 

 the natural home of the Prairie Chicken 

 and Sharp-tailed Grouse. The land can- 

 not be used for farming purposes and only 

 part of it can be used for grazing. There 

 is feed for these birds the entire year, as, 

 in the last seven years, the sunflower has 

 taken hold in the bare places and will, in 

 time, cover the entire reservation, afford- 

 ing abundant feed when the ground is 

 covered with snow. The Niobrara river 

 runs through the reservation and nearly 

 every four hundred yards on the river is 

 a canon with a stream of water running 

 its entire length, affording bird shelters 

 in plum thickets, evergreen trees, wiUows 

 and sumac." I suggest that this be set 

 aside as a bird refuge. 



Pursuant to this suggestion, the follow- 

 ing application was made to President 

 Roosevelt: 



January 17, 1908. 

 Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, 

 President United States, 



White House, Washington, D.C. 



Honored and respected sir: — I enclose 

 you herewith for your information, copies 



(142) 



