OUR MID-PACIFIC BIRD RESERVATION. 



By HENRY W. HENSHAW, 

 Chief, Bureau of Biological Survey. 



THE NEED FOR BIRD RESERVATIONS. 



The spread of civilization and the utilization of wild lands, added 

 to the destruction of animals for food, adornment, clothing, and 

 sport, threaten the very existence of many species of native birds 

 and mammals. The necessity of regulating the killing of game was 

 perceived early in our colonial history, and even the need of caring 

 for our insectivorous birds found recognition about 1850. Only in 

 comparatively recent years, however, has the importance been recog- 

 nized of protecting the large class of birds which, although they do 

 not destroy insects or other creatures inimical to agricultural inter- 

 ests, are nevertheless worthy of preservation because of their beauty, 

 grace, and harmlessness. If such birds add nothing to our material 

 wealth, they beautify the world and greatly increase the joy of 

 living. 



Though by no means the first to recognize the importance of pro- 

 tecting its wild life, the United States has taken a leading place 

 among the nations of the world in this respect. One of the most 

 efficient of the conservation measures adopted by the Government is 

 the setting apart here and there of islands and sterile tracts of land, 

 worthless for other purposes, upon which our native wild birds and 

 mammals may live and perpetuate their kind for the pleasure and 

 profit of our own and future generations. 



NUMBER OF BIRD RESERVATIONS. 



The National bird reservations under the care of the Department 

 of Agriculture already number 51 and play a very important part in 

 the preservation of our wild game and birds. One of the most 

 unique and interesting of these is the Hawaiian Islands Bird Reserva- 

 tion in the mid-Pacific (fig. 1), which, at certain seasons of the year, 

 harbors millions of sea fowls that repair thither to establish rookeries 

 and rear their young. The following is the executive order setting 

 apart this refuge : 



EXECUTIVE ORDER No. 1019. 



It is hereby ordered that the following islets and reefs, namely : Cure Island, 

 Pearl and Hermes Reef, Lysianski or Pell Island, Laysan Island, Mary Reef, 

 Dowsetts Reef, Gardiner Island, Two Brothers Reef, French Frigate Shoal, 

 Necker Island, Frost Shoal and Bird Island, situated in the Pacific Ocean sit 

 and near the extreme western extension of the Hawaiian Archipelago between 

 latitudes 23 and 29 north, and longitudes 160 and 180 west from Green- 



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