242 PUBLIC PARKS OF IOWA 



BIRD CONSERVATION IN IOWA. 

 By B. H. Bailey. 



It would be difficult to emphasize too strongly the need that exists for 

 farther conservation of our Iowa birds. Their value from an economic 

 standpoint even in their reduced numbers, can scarcely be overestimated, 

 and from an aesthetic viewpoint the flowers are their only rivals. That 

 the last quarter century has seen a diminution of their numbers no one 

 can gainsay. Not all species have been equally depleted. The chief suf- 

 ferers have been those looked upon as game which have been protected 

 at all adequately only within recent years, by limitations of the open 

 season and the restrictions of the bag. 



The protection afforded our smaller and economically most valuable 

 birds is, and I believe must largely be, through education. By the im- 

 pact of cumulative sentiment we may confidently hope in the rising 

 generation to accomplish much. I take it the purpose of this meeting 

 is to plan ways and means for effective conservation in Iowa along all 

 the lines suggested in the topics for discussion. 



If we now inquire what agencies have brought about these untoward 

 conditions against which our efforts at conservation are aimed, we must 

 confess that man himself, that disturbing factor against which nature 

 seems never to have provided adequately, is the chief devastator. He is 

 responsible for the considerable reduction of land birds and also water 

 birds of our state which both in numbers of individuals as well as in nest- 

 ing species are decreased. 



The draining of lakes and sloughs as well as the almost ceaseless 

 fusillade of repeating shot-guns have thinned the ranks of the former 

 myriads of migrating and nesting waterfowls. Notwithstanding the ex- 

 traordinary percentage of arable land of Iowa the greed for more is upon 

 us. May we not one day find ourselves in a similar predicament with 

 that unhappy individual in the well known story, who, in his lust for 

 wealth desired that everything he touched should instantly turn to gold. 

 We may one day wish these natural assets back again but our repentance 

 will come too late. 



In the brief time allotted to me permit me to bring to your notice 

 one instance where timely action saved a valuable breeding ground to 

 the waterfowl of a certain portion of the state. In 1902 while on a sum- 

 mer tour by wagon through northern Iowa I first became acquainted with 

 the bird life of Eagle Lake, a tract of marsh and open water covering, 

 by rough estimate, a thousand acres and lying some two and one-half 

 miles north of the town of Duncan, in Hancock county. Here among 

 the cat tails, wild rice, blue flag and other rank growth the waterfowl 

 find shelter and food, while in the grassy swails of nearby fields and along 

 the timbered shore many species less acquatic make their homes. The 

 outlet at the eastern end was so shallow that after the spring overflow, 

 during summers of normal rainfall there remained sufficient depth of 

 water for use of a skiff in most parts of the lake, and at times the over- 

 flow through this channel was considerable. In dry seasons the enormous 

 evaporation exposed the boggy bottom for many rods around the margin 



