Relation of JJlld Life to the Public 385 



assured. The true status of the peHcan, from the pubhc stand- 

 point, cannot therefore be determined solely b}- its status in the 

 Park. What are the probabilities of its permanent preservation else- 

 where? Dr. F. M. Chapman has already pointed out the precarious 

 situation of their other breeding grounds (see Camps and Cruises of 

 an Ornithologist, pp. 379-380, 1918). The real purpose of the Na- 

 tional Parks is to preserve in them what can best be maintained there. 

 These birds require isolated, protected islands for breeding, just 

 such conditions as exist in Yellowstone Lake. If the Yellowstone 

 Park is to live up to its past reputation as our leading wild life 

 preserve the public must feel assured that they are in safe keeping 

 and cannot be menaced by excessive fish egg collecting, commerciali- 

 zation of trout for hotels and camps, or by excessive angling. 



The destruction of a certain amount of trout by the pelicans is a 

 necessary phase of the maintenance of wild life in the Park, just as 

 is the growth and protection of forage and the cutting of hay in 

 relation to the maintenance of elk and bison, or the destruction of 

 insects and rodents by the bears, or even the collection and planting 

 of trout eggs. Before any restrictive or drastic measures are taken 

 it is eminently wise to have much more complete inform.ation about 

 them. When trout eggs were first collected in the Park the supply 

 was considered "inexhaustible," but now we know better. The 

 breeding of pelicans, about which we know very little, is vastly more 

 difficult than that of trout, so that at present the only safe method is 

 to greatly increase a proper kind of fish culture, and to absolutely 

 prohibit the shipment of trout eggs outside of the Park. There is 

 an abundance of eggs to stock the Park waters and to feed all the 

 pelicans and the gulls. Furthermore, it will be necessary to make 

 greater restrictions on the catch, as we know how to do this, rather 

 than to interfere in any way with the pelicans, about which we know 

 so little, and whose future is precarious. 



The Wilderness Policy. — The Council of the American Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science, at the Toronto meeting in 

 December, 1921, passed the following resolutions, which have a 

 very direct bearing on the policy of our National and State Parks 

 in maintaining their native plants and animals in natural conditions. 

 These resolutions read (Sdience, N. S., Vol. 55, p. 63, 1922) : 



"Whereas, one of the primary duties of the National Park Serv- 

 ice is to pass on to future generations for scientific study and edu- 

 cation, natural areas on which the native flora and fauna may be 

 found undisturbed bv outside agencies ; and 



