256 DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 



these protected fields, so that there would be little reason 

 to fear that any important part of the existing life would 

 be lost. 



Owing to the wise forethought of our American people, a 

 practical foundation of the system of national reservations 

 has been instituted in our so-called national parks. Although 

 these reservations were established to preserve to the public 

 certain natural beauties in the way of scenery or vegetation, 

 or to secure the regimen of streams, they will, if properly 

 guarded against depredations, effect the end which we have 

 in view. Owine to their laree area and somewhat varied 

 positions, these parks provide a safe refuge for a great part of 

 the life which belongs in the cordilleran district of the United 

 States. If the method should be extended to the whole 

 country, we should have the peculiar satisfaction of having 

 been the first state to institute the system of preservation 

 which is here suggested. 



To complete a system of reservations designed to per- 

 petuate the aboriginal life of this country would require the 

 institution of about a dozen other similar natural shelters. 

 It would not be necessary to have these on as large a scale as 

 that of the Yellowstone. In most cases areas of from ten to 

 twenty thousand acres in extent would, if well guarded, suffice 

 to give refuge to the animals and plants of the field in which 

 it lay. The selection of these refuges would demand much 

 consideration. In general, it may be said that they need to 

 include at least two on the Atlantic coast, which might also 

 be fitted for the use of marine birds as breeding places, one 

 on the northern part of the coast of Maine, and another in 

 southern Florida. The latter might serve as well for the 

 protection of the turtles which resort to that shore to lay 



