SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT 11 



One has only to note the surprising number of species 

 which congregate at certain times of the year in such places 

 as the church-yard of Trinity Church, in New York City, at 

 the very heart of the Western World's greatest financial 

 center, to see how the birds will flock even to the smallest 

 area,jn an apparently most unfavorable environment, where 

 adequate protection is insured. 



Bradford Torrey, again, has counted half a hundred 

 different species of birds in one day in the Boston Common 

 and Public Gardens — a much larger but nonetheless unlikely 

 spot for the observation of wild life; while Central Park in 

 New York City constitutes a still wider and more fertile field 

 for the urban ornithologist. 



If these astounding results have been accidentally ob- 

 tained under such adverse conditions, what may we not 

 reasonably expect where the protected areas are of wide 

 extent and suitable environment? 



A striking example of actual accomplishment is the 

 wonderfully successful experiment conducted by Edward A. 

 Mclllhenny at Avery Island, Louisiana. 



Starting with eight young snowy herons which he trans- 

 planted to the borders of a pond upon his own estate, at the 

 end of seventeen years he had no less than twenty thousand 

 pair of herons of various species nesting there. 



"Now let it be impressed upon the reader," he says, 

 "that this great bird city, where the inhabitants are free to 

 come and go as they choose, is not in the heart of some dense 

 swamp, miles away from human habitation, but in a little 

 valley between the hills, and fully fifty feet above the sea 

 level. The land on the south and southwest is cultivated, 

 and the home of the writer is within two hundred yards of the 

 northwest end. A railroad, wagon road, and telephone line 

 bound the eastern side. A busy factory, a railroad station, 

 and a dozen dwelling houses are within two hundred yards of 

 ts eastern and southern border, and yet these birds live here 

 in perfect contentment, without fear of their greatest enemy, 

 man. Many nests are within ten feet of the wagon road 

 and within thirty feet of the railroad; so near, in fact, that 



