The Audubon Societies 



485 



With the Field-Agents 



CRUISING THE KLAMATH 



By WILLIAM L. FINLEY 

 Photographs by Herman T. Bohlman and the author 



O marsh-area in the 

 West appeals to me 

 like the vast tule 

 region of the Lower 

 Klamath, with the 

 river winding back 

 and forth in its 

 meandering course 

 through the wide 

 stretch that fur- 

 nishes unnumbered 

 home-sites for Ducks and other wild- 

 fowl. The .lake itself, which was once a 

 broad body of water, has gradually been 

 filled by the encroaching tule-islands that 

 spread farther and farther from the shore 

 each year until they occupy the borders 

 for miles, and in one place have crept clear 

 across the middle of the lake as if to form 

 a bridge. These floating tule-islands are 

 the homes of great colonies of Pelicans, 

 Gulls, Cormorants, Terns, and other birds. 

 On May 30, 1915, Messrs. T. Gilbert 

 Pearson, R. B. Horsfall, J. J. Furber 



(Warden of Klamath Lake Reservation), 

 and I, set out for a survey of the lake. It 

 was a very different trip from that of 1905, 

 when Bohlman and I, at the suggestion 

 of William Dutcher, embarked with two 

 weeks' provisions in a small rowboat to 

 discover bird-colonies and try in some way 

 to put an end to the slaughter of Grebes, 

 Terns, and other birds killed for the mil- 

 linery market. At that time no launch 

 was available, but the Audubon Patrol 

 Boat No. 5 is now constantly encircling 

 the lake and guarding the great colonies of 

 nesting birds. For nearly ten years this 

 little launch has patrolled the Lower Lake, 

 traversing every channel among the tule 

 islands in all kinds of weather, in its mis- 

 sion of bird-protection. It was purchased 

 for the National Association of Audubon 

 Societies by Mr. Dutcher. It has perhaps 

 seen longer and more useful service than 

 any other patrol-boat, for it is one of the 

 pioneers of the Audubon bird-protection 

 fleet. 



CALIFORNIA GULLS IN A WELL-PROTECTED COLONY 



