Correspondence.



149



BIRD PROTECTION.


TIIE GREAT MClLHENNY PROJECT.


On his baronial estate at Avery Island, Louisiana, lives Edward A.

Mcllhenny, arctic explorer, big-game hunter, lecturer, and of late years conser¬

vationist. 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, was purchased on July 22, 1912,

by Mrs. Russell Sage, the matter having been brought to her attention by

Mr. Mcllhenny. The object of these latter purchases was, of course, to enlarge

the region wherein the wild life of the country might be safe from human

destroyers. But Mr. Mcllhenny was not yet satisfied, and on April 29, 1914, he

induced the Rockfellet Foundation to purchase a tract of 86,000 acres adjoining

the other refuges. Thus there has been created a vast bird-reserve of about

234,000 acres of Louisiana marshes, the importance of which, especially from the

standpoint of preservation of wildfowl, can hardly be over-estimated.


Mr. Mcllhenny feels that what has been done should be considered only

the beginning of a series of reservations for migratory birds, that should

extend northward through the Mississippi Basin and onward to northwestern

Canada. The project is a big one, but one that is well worth while. There

should likewise be a string of refuges along the Atlantic seaboard and on the

Pacific Coast, where protection from gunners may be had for the flocks of Ducks

and Geese, as well as for the diminishing shore-birds that annually sweep up and

down the coast. If one should doubt whether such an effort is worth while, one

need- only visit the Louisiana refuges, and witness the evidences of the abundance

of wild life to be found there.


In company with Senator George P. McClean, Mr. Mcllhenny, Mr. Job,

and Messrs. Alexander and Arthur of the Louisiana Conservation Commission,

the writer traversed this region in December, 1915. From an observation-blind



