AN APPALACHIAN PURCHASE 



611 



entirely denuded by the worms. On the whole, however, 

 crows are scarcely deserving of protection, yet certainly 

 bounties should not be offered for them, nor should any 

 attempt be made to exterminate them. On the other hand, 

 they are such wary birds that they are well able to care 

 for themselves and in no danger of extinction even in the 

 most settled country. Because of their wariness they 

 are usually easily frightened from corn fields by the ordi- 



N 



Photograph by Francis Harptt. 



A BLUE-JAY ON ITS NEST 



lays are noisy birds of quarrelsome dispositions and thieving habits, often 



robbing the nests of smaller birds. 



nary scarecrow or strings stretched across the fields, 

 provided these are moved about every few days so that 

 the birds will not become accustomed to them. In ex- 

 treme cases a gun fired occasionally in the general direc- 

 tion of the crows will suffice to keep them afraid of the 

 scarecrows. 



The fish crow, which is a smaller species found along 

 the Atlantic Coast region, is even more destructive to small 

 birds than its larger relative. It is less wary, often flying 

 through city streets or walking about park lawns and 

 its high nasal cah-cah sounds like the voice of a young 

 common crow before it has left the nest. The raven 

 which, with but little variation in size, is found through- 

 out the Northern Hemisphere, is more a bird of the for- 

 ests and wilder places and with the clearing of the forests 

 in eastern North America has been entirely replaced by 

 the crow. 



THE Lincoln Highway between Salt Lake City and San 

 Francisco, California, will be marked with redwood 

 posts. There will be one post to each mile, the 

 distance between these two points being 1,000 

 miles. These posts will carry the usual sign indicating 

 that it is the Lincoln Highway. They will be set rough and 

 will require no painting to protect them from the weather. 

 The Lincoln Highway Commissioners had under consider- 

 ation the use of boiler tubes and redwood was selected 

 in preference. 



THE WHITE-THROATED SPARROW 



Paulina Brandretii 



OT Orpheus fluting in his greenwood cell, 

 Nor shy Narcissus answering the call 

 Of lone, lost Echo in her mountain thrall, 

 Can such a tale of tender sadness tell 

 As thou, O sylvan whistler, who dost dwell 



Midst forest deeps where balsam shadows fall. 



Ere yet the sun ascends o'er swamp and glade, 

 Thy solitary notes, full-rounded, clear, 

 Float skyward from the secret haunts of deer. 

 In thee the Wilderness her heart hath laid, 

 To thee the pathos of her soul hath strayed 

 Like beauty cloistered in a human tear. 



AN APPALACHIAN PURCHASE 



THE National Forest Reservation Commission has 

 approved the purchase by the Government of 59 

 tracts of land with a total of 66,880 acres in the 

 Appalachian and White Mountains. Of this, 36,000 acres 

 is in the so-called " Kilkenny Purchase Area," in New 

 Hampshire. It is the policy of the Commission to build 

 up Government holdings, as nearly solid as may be, 

 through buying only in certain specified places, which are 

 designated purchase areas. 



The Kilkenny Purchase Area adjoins the so-called 

 " White Mountain Purchase Area " on the north, and is 

 on the water-shed of the Connecticut River. The land 

 now approved for purchase is the first to be acquired 

 in the Kilkenny Area. About 17,000 acres of land on the 

 White Mountain Area was approved. This land lies for 

 the most part on the west slope of the Carter Range 

 and practically completes the Government purchases in 

 the northern portion of the White Mountain region. With 

 this land a total of 698,086 acres in the White Mountains 

 has been acquired. 



Smaller tracts were purchased in the southern Appa- 

 lachian Mountains, the largest total of any area being that 

 of 7,678 acres in Transylvania County, North Carolina, 

 on the Pisgah Forest. Other tracts in Avery, Caldwell, 

 Macon, and McDowell Counties, North Carolina, on the 

 Boone, Nantahala, and Mount Mitchell Areas, aggregate 

 1,870 acres. Approximately 2,000 acres of the approved. 

 lands are on the Potomac, Shenandoah, and Natural 

 Bridge Areas in Virginia; 956 acres are in Rabun and 

 Union Counties, Georgia, and the remaining 586 acres- 

 are in Monroe and Sullivan Counties, Tennessee. 



The $3,000,000 recently reappropriated by Congress 

 will be used mostly to round out the lands already ac- 

 quired, so that they may be easily and economically ad- 

 ministered. In making future purchases it is stated that 

 the policy will be to select those tracts which block in 

 with lands already purchased and which are offered at 

 the most reasonable prices. 



