262 THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 
MALHEUR LAKE BIRD RESERVATION 
SHOULD BE SAVED 
From American Field. 
T. Gilbert Pearson, secretary of the National Association of Audu- 
bon Societies, has just returned from a visit to Malheur Lake, Oregon, 
which has long been known as one of the most important breeding 
places for wild birds in this country. He reports that an attempt is 
being made to secure from the United States Government the title of 
this land for the purpose of draining the lake, for the benefit of a few 
persons. 
This action is unwise economically, because it substitutes for a 
certainty of valuable birds the uncertainty of agricultural products on 
alkaline soil, by nature unadapted for agricultural purposes. It carries 
with it, too, a subversion of public rights. These breeding places, 
relatively few in number, require peculiar conditions which cannot be 
readily duplicated. It means diminishing by so much the annual crop 
of wild birds on this continent. It means exploitation of a public asset 
for private gain. It should meet the opposition, not alone of the 
sportsmen and the persons who have the right to see birds under their 
natural conditions, but should as well meet the condemnation of the 
agricultural press in all sections of the country. 
It is difficult to believe that the people of the State of Oregon will 
permit such an important state asset to be destroyed, for Malheur 
Lake in its original and natural conditions should be one of the most 
important natural features of the state, and as such should be pro- 
tected as it exists today. Through the efforts of the Audubon Asso- 
ciation, Lake Malheur was made a United States bird reservation on 
August 18, 1908, and has since that time been guarded under the care 
of the Federal Government. 
Certain interested persons in Oregon have now made application 
to the Government to declare the lake to be “swamp lands suitable 
for agricultural purposes,’ and thereby invalidate the Government’s 
title to the land. Herein appears the weak point in all the Federal 
legislation relative to the setting aside of bird and game reservations, 
particularly in the case of birds. The mere fact that land can be made 
suitable (at any price) for agricultural purposes should not exclude: 
the possibility of retaining that land as a place for producing birds, 
if the annual crop of birds is of more value than the agricultural 
products. 
_ The National Association of Conservation Commissioners will sup- 
port the Audubon Association in its effort to prevent the destruction 
of this bird reservation by draining and exploitation of this land. 
GEORGE W. FIELD, 
President N. A. C. C. 
HUNGARIAN PHEASANTS IN UMATILLA 
COUNTY 
By M. D. Orance, of Pilot Rock, Oregon. 
Our deputy game warden, Mr. Tonkin, has asked me to write 
about the game conditions of this section for “The Oregon Sportsman.” 
There seems to be about the average number of deer, although 
not many are being killed. Seems that the hunters haven’t gotten 
their “hunting eye” up to date and are making more misses than 
common, considering that most of them are old-timers. 
