124 



CALIFORNIA PISH AND GAME. 



IS BIRD PROTECTION WHOLLY 



SENTIMENTAL? 



Many people seem to believe that bird 

 ])rotection is whollj' sentimental. Look 

 far enough into the subject and yon will 

 find that it is largely economic. The 

 Rockefeller Foundation has just paid 

 $220,000 for 85,000 acres in Louisiana, 

 which is to be used solely as a refuge for 

 migratory birds. Surely there is more 

 than pure sentiment behind such a gift 

 as this. 



Tlie property so recently purchased by 

 the Rockefeller Foundation is near Marsh 

 Island, which, in 1912, was secured by 

 Mrs. Russell Sage for the same purpose. 



bird protection. A visit to Golden Gate 

 Park, San Francisco, Peralta Park, Oak- 

 land, and Southside Park, Sacramento, 

 will show thousands of water fowl con- 

 gregated on the lakes in these parks. 

 Even though Lake Merritt, in Oakland, is 

 situated almost in the heart of a great 

 city, the ducks there have become so accus- 

 tomed to protection that they can be ap- 

 proached within a few feet. 



In some places the lakes have been 

 made attractive to wild fowl by keeping 

 pinioned ducks. In Southside Park, Sac- 

 ramento, a number of pinioned geese are 

 also to be found. Last year Mr. Neal 

 secured some eggs of the wood duck and 



Fig. 30. — Ducks on pond at County Infirmary. Oakland, California. As ducks 

 are protected and fed here, they congregate by the thousands. Photograph by 

 F. C. Clarke. 



and adjoins a 60,000-acre tract which its 

 owner, Mr. E. A. Mcllhenney, has de- 

 voted to bird protection. When the 

 Foundation carries out its intention of 

 acquiring the nearby laud these refuges 

 will become one great bird preserve of 

 500 s(]uares miles, covering a frontage of 

 seventy-hve miles on the Gulf Coast. 



CITY PARKS AS GAME REFUGES. 

 There are three vivid examples in this 

 state of what may be done in the way of 



had them successfully hatched. As a re- 

 sult, this, the most beautiful of all ducks, 

 is to be seen on the lake in Southside 

 Park. Although able to fiy, these ducks 

 seem to be well satisfied with their home 

 in a city park. 



It takes but a very small body of water 

 to furnish a refuge for water fowl. At 

 the County Infirmary, in Oakland, a large 

 reservoir has been made to teem with 

 water fowl each winter by keeping a few 

 pinioned ducks thereon. (Fig. 30.) 



