708 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



KEADY TO RECORD A RARE VOICE 



James Tanner points the apparatus at the ivory-billed woodpeckers' nest so 

 that all of their vocabulary can be recorded when they change places on the 

 eggs. The microphone is hung at the focal point of the parabolic reflector, and 

 the mirror is sighted at the birds through the telescope on one side. 



At least, this was the schedule every day 

 during the time that we observed them. 



We wanted to remain with the ivorybills 

 until their eggs hatched and the young 

 were reared. But we heard from our friend 

 Verne Davison that if we wished to study 

 and record the lesser prairie chickens in 

 western Oklahoma we must hasten on so as 

 to get there before the first of May. 



So, torn between two desires and anxious 

 to make the most of all opportunities, we 

 sent for the mules and broke camp, plan- 

 ning to return in three weeks when the 

 young should be nearly fledged. In two 



days we had our 

 sound truck reas- 

 sembled in prep- 

 aration for the 

 work i n Okla- 

 homa. 



At this time, 

 however, dust 

 storms were rag- 

 ing on the prairie, 

 and we delayed 

 our journey to ac- 

 cept the kind in- 

 vitation of E. A. 

 Mcllhenny to 

 visit his beauti- 

 ful estate and 

 bird sanctuary at 

 Avery Island, 

 Louisiana. Here 

 we spent three 

 enchanting days 

 recording the 

 daily life in his 

 "Bird City." 



This is an 

 amazing object 

 lesson in bird 

 protection, show- 

 ing what man 

 can accomplish 

 through thought- 

 fuhiess and kind- 

 ness toward bird 

 life. Beginning 35 

 years ago when 

 the snowy heron 

 had become quite 

 rare, Mr. AIc- 

 Ilhenny has grad- 

 ually built up a 

 large colony on 

 an artificial pond 

 of his own cre- 

 ation. At the time of our visit in late April 

 it certainly numbered 10,000 birds, and as 

 many again, we were told, were yet to come 

 (pages 703, 710). 



A BULL alligator's FEARSOME BELLOW 



Here we recorded the curious froglike 

 croakings of the snowy egrets, and, by 

 unusual good-fortune, captured the bellow 

 of a huge bull alligator. It is a thrilling 

 sound — like the roar of a lion, but rendered 

 more terrifying by the sight of the churn- 

 ing water, and it certainly must be effective 

 in intimidating lesser male alligators and 



