July 29, 1911.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
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possible under the care and control of the Na¬ 
tional Government? It is national; in fact, inter¬ 
national, in its scope, and besides I have noticed 
that what is done by the nation is generally done 
more thoroughly and well than what is left to 
a State, county or city.” 
In replying to the above, Mr. Ward said, in part: 
“Before concluding to deed the Vermilion Bay 
Company lands to the State Game Commission I 
considered the subject of placing them under the 
control of the National Government, but after 
sounding the sportsmen of this section I came 
to the conclusion that it would be better to place 
them under State control, as there seems to be 
considerable opposition to the scheme of National 
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period than has been their custom in years past, 
migrating directly from the Southern refuge to 
the Northern breeding grounds near the arctic 
circle in a very short time. During the last two 
or three years a few mallards have remained and 
nested, and the present season there seem to be 
many more mallards nesting upon the Vermilion 
Bay reserve than for several years past. 
Second — The topography of the treeless 
meadows which border the Gulf coast along al¬ 
most the entire Louisiana front, of which the 
Vermilion Bay preserve forms a part, and the 
treeless plains called tundras, comprising a large 
portion of the northern third of the continent 
and which are now the breeding grounds of 
most of the species of the wild waterfowl, are 
almost identical and the supply of insect food 
upon which the young birds subsist is practically 
of the same character and of equal abundance 
upon both areas. 
The theory upon which we are working is that 
the larger proportion of wild geese and ducks 
migrate each spring northward, finding breeding 
places mainly in the wilds of Canada far enough 
to escape the present areas of settlement. Prob¬ 
ably the most extensive breeding places lie west 
and southwest of Hudson Bay, extending be¬ 
yond the arctic circle and westward to the 
Alaskan coast. If refuges of sufficient extent 
can be established along the Gulf, where kill¬ 
ing of the migratory fowl can be absolutely pre¬ 
vented, enough birds can be preserved to main¬ 
tain a sufficient annual migration to Northern 
breeding grounds, assisted by those which 
might breed in intervening refuges to provide a 
perpetual supply of propagating birds. A suffi¬ 
cient number of havens should be established at 
favorable distances along the courses of migra¬ 
tory flight to afford the birds resting and feed¬ 
ing places and prevent their destruction during 
their passage to and fro across the thickly set¬ 
tled portions of the continent. We do not be¬ 
lieve in the absolute prohibition of the killing 
or sale of valuable wild food birds, but we think 
game birds should be protected and put to prac¬ 
tical uses as has long been done in England and 
Germany, and believe our plan would tend to 
accomplish this end, thus affording enjoyment 
to all classes instead of the use of game being 
practically confined to wealthy men who can 
afford to make extensive hunting trips, or the 
market hunters who live in close community 
with the birds themselves. While this plan seems 
to be one of vast magnitude, we believe it can 
be finally accomplished with the co-operation of 
the sportsmen of the United States and Canada 
and others interested in the conservation of wild 
life with the assistance of the Canadian, United 
States and State Governments, which assistance 
we believe will be extended whenever a prac¬ 
tical, efficient and likely to be successful plan is 
put under way. 
[Supplementary to the remarks of Mr. Ward 
regarding the great preserve he and Edward A. 
Mcllhenny have given to Louisiana, the follow¬ 
ing is of interest: 
From correspondence we have permission to 
quote, as follows, the first being an extract from 
a letter written by Charles D. McGuffey, of 
Chattanooga, to Messrs. Ward and Mcllhenny: 
“Allow me to express my high appreciation of 
your project for zones of refuge for birds. May 
I take the liberty of suggesting that I think its 
success will be promoted by putting it as far as 
control. 
“I am quite certain that the Game Commission 
of the State of Louisiana will co-operate with 
the National Government in every practical way. 
I am quite certain that the only way to secure 
practical and efficient game protection is to se¬ 
cure the co-operation and approval of the local 
residents wherever game refuges are to be es¬ 
tablished, and I am working not only to secure 
the approval and co-operation of the State Game 
Commission, and the Department of Biology at 
Washington, but also the approval and co-opera¬ 
tion and good will of the local hunters of all 
classes. 
“I have had quite an experience of shooting 
in Germany, where game is still abundant, al¬ 
though Germany has been settled for several 
hundred years and carries a population of 200 
to the square mile. In Germany the game laws 
are efficiently enforced owing to the fact that 
they have the approval of every resident of the 
game country; no boy will kill a bird of any de¬ 
scription, no farmer will shoot any kind of game 
for the reason that the privileges are valuable 
and a source of income to the rural population. 
ln> some instances the rental of the shooting 
privileges attached to the lands, owned by the 
residents of some of the villages, go a great way 
toward paying the taxes. 
“Whenever we can secure the approval and 
co-operation of the farmer, the sportsman and 
the market hunter, so that all will work in unison 
toward the protection and preservation of game, 
we will begin to have practical and efficient game 
protection. In Germany all kinds of game are 
sold liberally in the market during the open sea- 
THE SEVENTY-FIVE-FOOT YACHT ETHEL M. WARD. 
Employed by the donors of the great refuge in their wildfowl investigations. 
FLOCK OF BLUE GEESE (LOCALLY CALLED BRANT) BUT NOT THE TRUE BRANT. 
From a photograph by H. K. Job. 
