262 



Bird - Lore 



MR. AND MRS. FINLEY PHOTOGRAPHING YOUNG BLACK VULTURES 



Black-crowned Night Heron, and Great- 

 tailed Grackle were numerous. 



To us the most interesting of the group 

 was the Reddish Egret, as at this time we 

 knew of no other place in the United States 

 where this rare bird was to be found breed- 

 ing. We estimated that of this species 



there were about five hundred pairs. The 

 old birds were not shy, and it was easy to 

 photograph them in the open, while, with 

 the aid of a blind, Mr. and Mrs. Finley 

 secured at close range excellent moving 

 pictures of this hitherto unfilmed bird. 

 {To be concluded) 



OUR NATIONAL PARKS ARE THREATENED 



On April 23, 1920, a notice was sent to 

 all organizations afiiliated with the Nat- 

 ional Association calling attention to the 

 bill, then pending in Congress, to allow 

 commercial interests to exploit Yellow- 

 stone National Park for their own purposes. 

 Request was made that the officers of these 

 various organizations at once communi- 

 cate with their congressmen and senators 

 and express their opposition of the meas- 

 ure. The response was immediate and 

 generous, and later a hearing on the merits 

 of the bill was secured. 



The National Association, with others 

 interested, was present to oppose the Smith 

 Yellowstone Park Irrigation Easement Bill 

 when it came up before the Rules Com- 

 mittee of the House, May 25. Our efforts 

 were successful and the bill was not re- 

 ported out of Committee. Temporarily, 

 it is killed, but it will no doubt be brought 

 forward again. 



There seems an organized effort on foot 

 to break down the national park system — 

 to use for commercial purposes these rest- 



ing-places whose value for recreation is so 

 much more important than it is for com- 

 mercial uses. Men and women who visit 

 these parks and behold their beautiful 

 scenery and their bits of untouched nature, 

 gain from these visits a new freshness of 

 mind and a new vigor of body that is worth 

 more — will produce more wealth for the 

 country — than can be had from all the 

 water or the power or the timber that could 

 be taken from them. 



Some of these parks have been handed 

 over to the citizens of this country for the 

 specific purpose of benefit and enjoyment. 

 They were established as pleasure-grounds. 

 It is no more fitting that they should be 

 used for money-making projects than it 

 would be to build loft buildings in Lincoln 

 Park, Chicago, or in Central Park, New 

 York City. 



If Congress understood the rights of the 

 people in these parks and the feeling the 

 people have for them it would refuse to 

 legislate to abridge these rights. That 

 Congress does not fully sense the public's 



