SA\ IXc; THE DUCKS AND GEESE 



thousand acres covers more territory than 

 the entire lake region of North Dakota. 

 Shooting, trapping, or disturbing the 

 birds in any manner is prohibited on all 

 these reservations, whether they are to 

 be nesting places in summer or refuges 

 from man's attack during the winter. 



GAME REFUGES IX LOUISIANA 



The results of such local protection are 

 often immediate and striking. In the San 

 Luis \'alley, Colorado, the safety af- 

 forded ducks on an artificial pond fed 

 by an artesian well has induced the birds 

 to resort there in larger and larger num- 

 bers every winter. 



At Palm Beach, Florida, wdiere no 

 hunting is allowed within a mile of the 

 town, ducks have become so tame that 

 they will come for food within a few 

 feet of a person (see cut. page 370), 

 while outside the mile limit these same 

 birds are so wild that it is difficult to get 

 within gunshot range of them. 



Private enterpiise and generosity have 

 joined forces with the national and State 

 governments in extending protection to 

 the birds. One of the most striking ex- 

 amples is the Ward-McTlhenny Game 

 Refuge in southern Louisiana, in the very 

 heart of the region already designated as 

 the greatest winter home of ducks on the 

 North American continent. 



These two gentlemen — C. W. Ward 

 and E. A. IMcHhenny — purchased some 

 50.000 acres and hired game wardens at 

 their own expense to patrol the district 

 and prevent all shooting. Later they 

 deeded 13,000 acres to the State of Lou- 

 isiana to serve as a perpetual bird refuge 

 (see map, page 373). This district had 

 long been a favorite with the market 

 gunner, and its 15 miles of now protected 

 shore-line cannot fail to be a safe abiding 

 place in winter for innumerable water- 

 fowl. 



Here is the princi])al winter home of 

 the blue goose, one of the rarest and most 

 interesting of North American geese (see 

 cut. page 2>7-^^- Going northward in the 

 spring, their pathway can be traced until 

 they reach LIudson Bay. There they dis- 

 appear ; the nest and eggs have never 

 been found, and no white man has ever 

 reported seeing a blue goose in the sum- 

 mer. 



By exclusion and from the testimony 

 of the natives, it is almost certain that 

 they breed in the unexplored interior of 

 the Labrador Peninsula. In the fall they 

 reappear and move slowly south to the 

 coast of Louisiana, where they are sub- 

 ject to increasing persecution. The Ward- 

 jMcIlhenny Wildfowl Refuge, in the cen- 

 ter of their winter range, will offer a 

 welcome and much-needed shelter and go 

 far toward preventing the total extinction 

 of this rare species. 



DOMESTICATION PROVED POSSIBLE 



Artificial propagation is worthy of con- 

 sideration. That this is feasible has been 

 strikingly shown by J. W. Whealton. of 

 Chincoteague Island. \'irginia, who has 

 been raising the Canada wild goose for 

 more than 50 years, and some of his 

 oldest and best pairs are well beyond the 

 half-century mark ; in fact, have had their 

 golden weddings ( see pages 378 and 



379)- 



The homing instinct has become suffi- 

 ciently develojied for them to be trusted 

 to feed at liberty, and the fiocks, now 

 numbering several hundred, forage on 

 neighboring islands even 15 miles distant. 

 No runaways have been known, and 

 many pairs which spend the fall and 

 winter on adjacent islands return reg- 

 ularly every spring to their breeding pas- 

 tures and their old nests. 



Even the black mallard, one of the 

 wildest and most untamable of all water- 

 fowl, has become semi-domesticated and 

 has shown remarkable powers of repro- 

 duction ; 1,200 ducks were raised in three 

 years from a beginning of only 80 pairs. 

 Mr. Whealton has also succeeded in 

 breeding the greater snow goose, al- 

 though its nest and eggs in the wild state 

 are almost unknown. 



THE NEW FEDERAL LAW 



The closing hours of the last Congress 

 were marked by the i)assage. late in Feb- 

 ruary, of the .\rcLean Hill for the pro- 

 tection of migratory game birds. This 

 bill declares all migratory game birds "to 

 be within the custody and protection of 

 the government of the Ignited States." 

 and authorizes and directs the Depart- 

 ment of .\griculture to prescribe and fix 

 close sea.sons for their protection. 



