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A village of Farallon cormorants on lower Klamath Lake, receiving a visit from the writer 



Uncle Sam's Birds 



By T. GILBERT PEARSON 



Secretary, National Association of Audubon Societies 



The Journal publishes as a third article in the series from Mr. Pearson's book soon to be brought out by 

 Doubleday, Page and Company, this chapter on bird reservations. It is with unusual satisfaction that we read the 

 vividly told story of the growth of federal protection, together with descriptions of various rookeries, such as that 

 in the "Big Cypress" near Fort Myers, Florida, and accounts of the splendid loyalty of the wardens who daily 

 hold watch over the birds. 



There should be added to this story of bird protection, the legislative triumph which has just come to pass, 

 through the final ratification by Congress on August 29 of an international treaty for conservation of all migratory 

 birds of the North American continent. This treaty, now active law in Canada and the United States north of 

 Mexico, was initiated more than two years ago by Senator George P. McLean of Connecticut. It followed through 

 the necessary course in Canada, then came down from Ottawa in the August just past, to meet success or failure 

 in Washington. Great was the delight of those interested either from the economic side or from sentiment, to see 

 the treaty pass quickly through the hands of the Secretary of State, the British Ambassador, the President, and go 

 to the Senate, where it was made law by a two-tliirds majority vote. It is prophesied that the enactment of this 

 international law protecting migratory birds will prove the most far-reaching of any step ever taken in any country 

 for the increase of the native bird life. [See page ^lOfor some of the specific restrictions of the treaty.] — The Editor. 



THE creation of reservations where 

 all wild birds may be protected 

 at all times is a very modern idea 

 and was first brought prominently to 

 public attention by the efforts of the 

 Audubon Society. The United States 

 Government first manifested an interest 

 in this subject about thirteen years ago, 

 and it came about in this manner. On 

 May 29, 1901, the legislature of Florida 

 was induced to enact a statute making 

 it a misdemeanor to kill anv of the non- 



game birds of the state, with the excep- 

 tion of the crow and a few other species 

 regarded by the lawmakers as being 

 injurious to man's interests in some way. 

 Shortly afterward, the Audubon So- 

 ciety employed a man to protect from 

 the raids of tourists and feather-hunters 

 a large colony of brown pelicans that 

 used as a nesting site a small, muddy, 

 mangrove-covered island in Indian River 

 on the Atlantic coast of the state. Soon 

 murmurings began to be heard. "Peli- 



395 



