The Audubon Societies 



65 



of Marco, an agent of the National Asso- 

 ciation; but unless a more adequate fund can 

 be provided for this purpose. Mr. Williams 

 must leave it to the plume-hunters. 



In this connection, I would like to 

 emphasize the necessity of having a com- 

 petent warden protect this last Egret- 

 colony of any importance on the southwest 

 coast of Florida. Before these birds were 

 molested by the millinery trade, they 

 nested on all the islands in the bay, and 

 in the mangrove bushes along the main- 

 land clear to the sawgrass; but since the 

 aigrette has been used extensively by the 

 millinery trade, this colony has been shot 

 out every year until 19 13, when Sam 

 Williams was first employed by Charles 

 W^illis Ward and the Audubon Society to 

 protect them. Williams succeeded in 

 bringing the birds through that season 

 with the loss of only seven, which were 

 killed by plume-hunters in a bold but 

 unsuccessful attack upon the rookery. 

 The next year, owing to lack of money, 

 the rookery was not protected, and vir- 

 tually all the birds were killed. The past 

 year about four hundred pairs, only a 

 fraction of the normal number for this 

 place, raised their young under the care 

 of Sam Williams — only to be slaughtered 



in 1916, unless money can be found for 

 their protection. 



To illustrate further the lawlessness of 

 this region, I am sending two photographs 

 taken in a devastated White Ibis rookery 

 at the head of a river draining from the 

 Everglades into the Ten Thousand Islands 

 just above Northwest Cape. This rookery 

 originally consisted of about ten thousand 

 pairs of White Ibis, but it has been shot 

 into by "sportsmen," and the birds that 

 were not killed have deserted the rookery. 

 These pictures show the empty and 

 deserted nests, and a few of the many 

 birds that had been left lying on the 

 ground where they fell. 



That the concrete evidence of the mil- 

 liners' criminality, and the threatened 

 doom of the Egret, may be as forcibly 

 demonstrated in other cities as it was in 

 Tampa, the Tampa Audubon Society 

 herewith offers the loan of this exhibit to 

 any reader of Bird-Lore who will use 

 it for exhibition, pay for its transportation, 

 and return it safely to the Tampa Audu- 

 bon Society. 



Requests for this exhibit should be 

 addressed to Dr. Herbert R. Mills, Presi- 

 dent of the Tampa Audubon Society, 

 Tampa, Florida. 



THE GREAT McILHENNY PROJECT 



On his baronial estate at Avery Island, 

 Louisiana, lives Edward A. Mcllhenny, 

 arctic explorer, big-game hunter, lecturer, 

 and of late years conservationist. Mr. 

 Mcllhenny is the man who manufactures 

 the well-known tabasco sauce and other 

 southern delicacies. Incidentally, he owns 

 one of the largest salt-mines in the country. 



From the veranda of his residence one 

 may look out over a vast expanse of salt- 

 marsh, which extends away and away to 

 the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. It is 

 his work in connection with the preserving 

 of the wild life of these marshes that of 

 late years has brought him prominently to 

 the attention of conservationists. Here is 

 an extended winter range for various 

 species of Ducks and Geese that come out 



of the North upon the approach of cold 

 weather. Formerly large areas of this 

 region were the haunts of innumerable 

 market-hunters, who in autumn, winter, 

 and early spring, slaughtered the wild- 

 fowl in unbelievable numbers for the 

 markets of New Orleans and of many 

 cities in the Northern States. 



In 1910, Mr. Mcllhenny and Charles 

 Willis Ward bought, and set aside as a 

 reservation, 57,000 acres of these marshes. 

 They ran the market-hunters out, and 

 established guards to see that they stayed 

 out. They also secured an additional 

 tract of 13,000 acres, and on November 4, 

 1911, deeded this to the state of Louisiana 

 as a Wild-Life Refuge. 



Marsh Island, containing 77,000 acres, 



