Forest and Stream 
Terms, $3 a Year, 10 Cts. a Copy. 
Six Months, $1.50. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JULY 29, 1911 
. VOL. LXXVII.—No. 5. 
I No. 127 Franklin St., New York. 
The Ward - Mcllhenny Wildfowl Refuge 
By CHARLES WILLIS WARD 
I N my boyhood days, spent among the beauti¬ 
ful lakes that thickly spot a large portion of 
Oakland county, Michigan, wild ducks of 
many species were plentiful. Ruffed grouse, 
quail, woodcock and wild turkey bred in great 
numbers, while the annual migration of the pas¬ 
senger pigeons still clouded the skies. Mallards, 
blackducks, teal and woodducks nested in goodly 
numbers. It was a veritable bird paradise. In 
1884 the passenger pigeon disappeared from that 
locality. Grouse, quail and woodcock had been 
reduced so that it was scarcely worth while to 
hunt them. All species of duck save the wood- 
duck had ceased nesting in that region, the an¬ 
nual migration of waterfowl had been reduced 
to a mere corporal’s guard, and at the present 
time a specimen of almost any species of game 
bird formerly found there is extremely rare. 
This rapid extinction of bird life, accomplished 
in so short a period of my own life, natural y 
aroused my concern and caused me to reflect 
much upon ways and means whereby it could be 
checked and birds once more allowed to breed 
and multiply. 
Laws limiting their killing, prohibitions of the 
sale of game, societies for the protection of 
game, all seem inadequate to prevent the steady 
destruction of wild life, and the period of total 
extermination seemed not far distant. 
In 1910 I spent the winter in Mississippi, Ala¬ 
bama and Louisiana in order to study the condi¬ 
tions surrounding waterfowl life in the section 
bordering the Gulf of Mexico. There I found 
history repeating itself; there were still many 
thousands of birds, but modern guns were re¬ 
ducing the birds much more rapidiy than had 
been possible with the muzzleloading musket and 
shotgun of my younger days. 
I formed the acquaintance of E. A. Mcllhenny, 
of Avery Island, La., and found in him a kindred 
spirit whose experiences and thoughts ran on 
similar lines. A working partnership for con¬ 
servation purposes was soon formed, and 50,000 
acres of land lying on the west side of Ver¬ 
milion Bay was purchased. While we knew that 
ducks and geese were abundant in many places 
on this tract, an exhaustive examination of the 
tract had not been made. Returning in Decem¬ 
ber, 1910, the winter was largely spent in secur¬ 
ing more definite knowledge of the numbers and 
habits of the waterfowl inhabiting that territory. 
This tract, bordered on the north and east by 
Vermilion Bay and Southwest Pass, and on the 
south by the Gulf of Mexico, consists main’y of 
rich alluvial marsh and meadow land. Its coastal 
and bay front extends to nearly forty miles. Its 
surface is flecked with numerous fresh and 
brackish water ponds and pierced with many 
bayous or sluggish arms extending inland from 
the bay shore. Many aquatic plants, food for 
canvasbacks, redhead, pintail and mallard ducks 
line the shores of the ponds or grow in pro¬ 
fusion on the bottoms. Several species of marsh 
grasses, favorite food for wild geese and ducks, 
grow in profusion on the vast expanse of marsh 
land. Several gentle elevations afford abundant 
grazing for herds of half wild cattle and Virginia 
SNOWY HERON AND YOUNG IN THE M'lLHENNY 
HERONRY ON AVERY ISLAND, LOUISIANA. 
deer; otter, mink, muskrats and ’coons are abund¬ 
ant. The diamond back terrapin breeds in great 
numbers on the shell ridges and sand beaches 
that border its southeastern shores and around 
the bayous and brackish ponds. Extensive oyster 
beds exist along a large portion of its bay and 
sea front. 
The Florida blackduck, Texas blackduck, 
woodduck, blue-winged teal and occasionally the 
mallard breed throughout its entire area, and 
from November till March hundreds of thou¬ 
sands of many species of ducks and geese known 
to the North American continent swarm upon i s 
surface and wax fat upon its magnificent food 
supply. 
A partial examination developed that one area 
of some 13,000 acres, encompassing some fifteen 
miles of bay front and containing numerous 
lakes and bayous, was especially fitted for a 
wildfowl refuge. Another area of 6,000 acres 
on the southwest portion of the tract was equally 
good for the same purpose, while a third tract 
of some 5,000 acres on the northerly portion was 
scarcely less valuable as a game preserve, the re¬ 
maining lands being more suitable for agricul¬ 
tural uses. 
For many years this 13,000 acre tract has been 
the favorite shooting grounds for market hun¬ 
ters. The report of the game warden of Ver¬ 
milion parish for the season of 1909 and 1910 
states that game birds to the value of $23,000 
and furs to the value of $63,000 were shipped 
by market hunters and trappers from that parish 
alone during the hunting aand trapping season, 
a large majority of which were killed on the 
Ward-Mcllhenny purchase. The game warden 
estimated that an average of 5,000 ducks per day 
were killed and shipped from that section during 
the first fifty days of the open season. 
For three years prior to the purchase of the 
tract Mr. Mcllhenny protected the game upon 
some 5,000 acres of land bordering Deep Bayou. 
Upon this area a decided increase of wi.dfowl 
was noted, while upon the unprotected section a 
marked decrease was apparent, especially of the 
various species of wild geese and canvasback 
ducks. 
During the past shooting season we maintained 
several game wardens upon this reserve and 
succeeded in preventing market hunting to such 
an extent that not more than 5,000 birds were 
taken from this reserve during the season. 
In considering the subject of game preserva¬ 
tion we finally determined to establish a reserve 
on the easterly 13,000 acres which was to be 
deeded to the State of Louisiana to be perpetu¬ 
ally maintained as an absolute game refuge. We 
felt this could only be insured by making it a 
State property and placing it under the abso¬ 
lute control of the game commission, under such 
conditions in the deed- of gift as would guaran¬ 
tee its perpetual maintenance. 
Another reserve of 6,000 acres was laid off on 
the southwest portion of the tract upon which 
we will carry out a scheme of game preserva¬ 
tion and propagation at our own expense, while 
a third reserve was established on the northern 
5,000 acres, to be maintained by us for the 
present. 
This Government reservation scheme has been 
rendered possible by the excel’ent conservation 
laws which have been recently passed by the 
Legislature of Louisiana and which its present 
Game. Fish and Oyster Commission is seeking 
