196 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



MAKING FRIENDS WITH YOUNG BURROWING OWLS 



These are most valuable birds in the farming districts of the West, because they catch 

 great numbers of field mice, squirrels, and other small ground animals that do damage to crops. 

 These three birds were taken out of a burrow and were soon on friendly terms. 



We turned back again. 



As the clumsy craft floated out into the 

 channel and I sat straddling the bow, 

 dangling my feet in the water to get rid 

 of the mud, it seemed as if Nature had 

 surely done her best to make the tule 

 swamp unfit for man. The Rails ran 

 lightly through the jungle, the Blue Her- 

 ons stood fishing in the marginal water, 

 the Red-wings and Tule Wrens clung to 

 the swaying stems, the muskrats paddled 

 homeward with tails waving contentedly 

 to and fro ; they all had places to sleep. 



Darkness settled over the marsh. The 

 stars glittered, the wind whispered in the 

 tule tops, the birds were asleep. 



It was almost noon the next day when 

 by chance we struck the channel that led 

 us out of the maze and back to camp. 

 But we had learned the art of blazing a 

 trail that we could follow through the 

 tules, and after resting a dav from our 

 initial efforts we outfitted for a week's 

 trip and set out down the spring branch. 

 This time we kept a straight course to the 

 north until we reached the main body of 

 the lake. 



Along the southeast side of the lake we 

 discovered great colonies where White 

 Pelicans, California and Ring-billed Gulls, 

 Caspian Terns, and Great Blue Herons 

 were nesting. Over on the north side were 

 immense colonies of Western Grebes. 

 Eared Grebes, Black-crowned Night 

 Herons, and White-faced Glossy Ibis. 



A\'e were hunting mainlv for colonies 

 of American Egrets, or White Herons, 

 which were formerly common on the 

 lake. After a month's search we saw 

 two flying over. They had been practi- 

 cally exterminated by plume-hunters. 



Our expeditions into the Klamath and 

 Malheur Lake countries were taken at 

 the suggestion of ]\Ir. William Butcher, 

 President of the National Association of 

 Audubon Societies, partly with the idea 

 of putting an end to the slaughter of 

 wild birds in those sections, which were 

 being killed to furnish plumes for the 

 millinery markets. Upon our report of 

 conditions, President Roosevelt issued a 

 special proclamation on August 8, 1908, 

 setting aside Lower Klamatli Lake as a 

 special reservation for the protection of 



