250 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XVI 
“White Squawk” of Mr. Knudson’s boyhood days, which he himself shot in 
our presence and gave us for identification in 1904, and which specimen we 
still possess — these are facts. 
Then, too, the immensity of undisturbed marsh, affording the best of both 
feeding and breeding grounds, together with the mild climate of the winters 
in this Great Basin, where the temperature rarely drops to zero, may offer a 
justification for its residence here. The birds have increased since our first 
observations, for annually they are spreading out into new colonies. How much 
real increase this may mean, we are unable to estimate ; for Mr. Knudson tells 
us that in years past the birds returning each spring fluctuated in number — 
one spring would find a large colony returned, the following spring only a 
few pair would occupy the rookery. Is this to be laid at the door of the plume- 
hunter or did a portion of the birds choose another locality for that year? But 
the very marked increase since 1904 would indicate that the protection afforded 
the Snowy Heron here and elsewhere, is having its effect. At our last Legis- 
lature a law was passed protecting all bird life in the State, except the Mag- 
pie ; and the law has not lacked enforcement. Mr. Fred Chambers, State Game 
Commissioner, with his deputies, and Mr. James Knudson, State and Federal 
Deputy Warden, have exerted untiring vigilance for the protection of all wild 
life in Utah. 
Salt Lake City, September lo, 1Q14. 
THE EFFECTS OF IRRIGATION ON BIRD LIFE IN THE 
YAKIMA VALLEY, WASHINGTON 
By CLARENCE HAMILTON KENNEDY 
T he following article is from observations made while ranching in the 
Yakima Valley, Washington, during the years from 1909 to 1914. My 
ranch was an irrigated forty acres, less than ten acres of which was in 
vineyard and orchard, the remainder being in alfalfa and plow land. The esti- 
mates of the number of resident birds in the Yakima Valley are largely based 
on the numbers which have nested on my forty acres or on land adjoining, 
which area, though small, was under close and continuous observation for four 
years. Estimates are not as difficult on an irrigated tract as might seem to 
an easterner used to the great variety of conditions in a given territory, as on 
any new irrigation project the conditions are remarkably uniform throughout. 
These notes deal only with species resident during nesting time and apply 
to that part of the valley about thirty miles long and ten miles wide at its 
widest, which lies between Union Gap and Grandview. Before irrigation, this 
part of the valley, excepting the narrow strip of verdure along the Yakima 
River, was a sage brush waste, dotted with sand dunes, and except for an 
ephemeral spring vegetation following the five to ten inches of winter rain- 
fall, was a true desert. 
As its bird population, with the exception of the grouses, now nearly ex- 
tinct, probably did not differ from that of the sage regions of the valley today, 
the following list of species resident at the present time in the sage gives us 
a view of the former bird life in that portion now irrigated. 
