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Volvjme XVI November-December, 1914" 
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A FORTY-FIVE YEAR HISTORY OF THE SNOWY HERON IN UTAH 
By ANTWONET, EDWARD AND A. O. TRBGANZA 
WITH MAP AND ONE PHOTO BY G. R. WALKER 
S IXTY miles north of Salt Lake City, where the Bear River empties into 
Bear River Bay, an inlet of the Great Salt Lake, thousands upon thous- 
ands of acres are covered by a tortuous weaving water web of overflow 
and spring-run, deviously patterning its surface with mud flat, alkaline bed, 
grass grown islet, open reach of water — all weft from lake shore to mountain 
with rank growth of tule and rushes ; and so on down the eastern shore of the 
lake, though somewhat lesser in extent, continue these same marshes, even 
accompanying the Jordan River to its narrows at the north end of Utah Lake. 
In the spring of 1904, through the courtesy and hospitality of Mr. Chas. 
Knudson of Brigham City, Utah, we were permitted our first knowledge of 
the great Bear River Marshes. Arriving at his home late in the afternoon, the 
evening was spent listening to tales of the late sixties and early seventies, when 
he and his brothers as boys saw the completion of the Central Pacific Railroad, 
which linked the East with the new West; how, as ardent, inquisitive youths 
they spent much of their time wandering about this vast expanse of slough, 
learning little by little the secrets it held. Here they found many species of 
birds whose home life they studied with eager interest. They had no text book 
to guide them, but named each in their own vernacular — the Great Blue Heron 
they called the Blue Crane ; the Black-crowned Night Heron, the Squawk ; the 
Snowy Heron, the White Squawk ; and the Long-billed Curlew, Willet, Avoeet 
and Black-necked Stilt all went by the name of Snipe. Each spring and fall 
they noted the myriads of migratory birds passing over these marshes, and 
love for the feathered life grew deep within them. As the years went by they 
gradually acquired this land; every alternate section from the railroad, some 
