468 Bird - Lore 



soon revert to a desert and Oregon would lose one of its most valuable assets. 

 At the coming session of the Oregon legislature an effort will be made to secure 

 the passage of a law ceding all state jurisdiction over this area to the United 

 States. 



It is very interesting to note that the only colony of Egrets (Ardea egretla) 

 nesting in Oregon have at last taken up their permanent home on Malheur 

 Reservation. In my annual report, published in the November-December, 

 191 2, issue of Bird-Lore, I told of a visit to this colony which had a short 



I 





PINTAIL DUCK. THIS SPECIES BREEDS ABUNDANTLY ON KLAMATH AND 



MALHEUR BIRD RESERVATIONS, OREGON 



Photographed by H. T. Bohlman 



time previously been discovered on an island in Silver Lake. There were eleven 

 or twelve Egret nests at that time. Two or three years later. Silver Lake dried 

 up and they moved. In 191 7, they were reported to be nesting in the willows 

 in the northern part of Malheur Lake Reservation. George Willett, who was 

 in charge of the reservation during the past season, reported that the number 

 of nests had doubled since our visit to the colony in 1912. The water on Lower 

 Klamath Lake Reservation has been lower this year than at any previous 

 time, on account of closing the dyke between the lake and Klamath River. 

 In order to prevent the destruction of Klamath Lake Reservation also, it will be 

 necessary to get a law passed in both the Oregon and California legislature 

 ceding jurisdiction to the United States. 



