The Yellowstone Park 



upon many small lakes dotted over the 

 Park, rearing their young without the least 

 fear of molestation. Pelicans find a home 

 around the shores of Yellowstone Lake and 

 the bottom-lands of its tributaries. That 

 graceful creature and rare bird, the white 

 swan, may frequently be seen on Yellowstone 

 Lake, and on three separate visits to that 

 secluded sheet of water, Riddle Lake, I have 

 never failed to find several of them paddling 

 about in its quiet waters. Eagles, fish- 

 hawks, and ospreys soar above the forest, 

 building their nests upon the summits of the 

 crags and pinnacles in the wildest and most 

 inaccessible places. It is always an impres- 

 sive sight to see that magnificent bird, the 

 bald-headed eagle, flying high over the lakes, 

 crossing and recrossing the w^ooded con- 

 tinental watershed, equally at home among 

 the sources of the Mississippi and Columbia, 

 undisturbed by his only really dangerous 

 enemy, rifle-bearing man. 



The preservation of animal life, as it exists 

 to-day under natural conditions within a gov- 

 ernment reservation, may be purely a matter 



of sentiment; but surely this grand possession 



269 



