A Sanctuary for Goats and Sheep. 
By a proclamation of the Lieutenant-Gov¬ 
ernor and Executive Council of British 
Columbia, dated Nov. 15, 1908, there was 
created a sanctuary for the mountain goat, 
mountain sheep, elk, mule deer and other im¬ 
portant wild animals of the East Kootenay dis¬ 
trict of that province. The initial act, as offi¬ 
cially published in the British Columbia Gazette, 
takes the form of an order proclaiming an abso¬ 
lute closed season for ten years from Nov. 15, 
1908, throughout an area the boundaries of 
which are specifically defined. Its southern line 
is sixty-three miles north of the international 
boundary, and its eastern boundary. Elk River, 
fifteen miles from the western boundary of 
Alberta, on the summit of the Continental 
Divide. 
The total area of the region which thus be¬ 
comes an absolute game preserve, is about 450 
square miles. Roughly speaking, it is shaped 
like two squares that overlap each other at 
the southeastern corner of the one and the 
■northwestern corner of the other. They include 
about three-fourths of the territory between the 
Elk and Bull rivers, already known to the public 
as the “proposed Goat Mountain Park,” to 
which an important addition of elk and deer 
breeding-grounds has been added on the north¬ 
west, on the head waters of White River and its 
tributary creeks. 
In the whole of the grand mountain regions 
of southern British Columbia there probably 
cannot be found an equal area at once so finely 
equipped with picturesque scenery, and so 
richly stocked with game. It is undoubtedly the 
center of abundance of the white goat, the num¬ 
ber of which is estimated at about 1,000 head. 
Of mountain sheep there is also an abundant 
stock, a conservative estimate placing the total 
at not less than 200 head. Grizzly bears are 
abundant in the higher ranges, and it is safe 
to estimate the total number at from forty to 
fifty individuals. Elk are as yet scarce, and 
so are mule deer; both these species having 
been shot out almost to the point of extermina¬ 
tion before the existing elk-protection law was 
enacted. 
From this time forth, all the large game 
species of the protected area will steadily and 
rapidly increase. Besides providing for the per¬ 
petual preservation of the picturesque goat and 
the lordly sheep—two species that are easily 
exterminated unless protected—the overflow of 
wild life from the new reservoir will perpetually 
stock the surrounding territory. 
The manner in which this important, and in 
many respects ideal, game preserve was 
brought into existence is satisfactory to all in¬ 
terested in the perpetual preservation of im¬ 
portant wild animal species. The creation of 
the preserve was suggested to the Government 
'of British Columbia in 1906, by two American 
sportsmen who had visited the region and be¬ 
come deeply impressed by its character and its 
wild inhabitants. At that time there were no 
game preserves in British Columbia. For two 
years William T. Hornaday and John M. 
Phillips carried on by correspondence, and in 
the press, an active campaign of education and 
appeal in behalf of the proposed preserve. The 
cause quickly enlisted the active support of 
Warburton Pike, Clive Phillipps-Wooley and 
other well-known sportsmen of Victoria. The 
leading citizens of Fernie, particularly Mayor 
W. W. Tuttle, Hon. W. R. Ross, M. P. and J. 
B. Turney, who made the cause their own, 
rendered important service in its presentation 
to the Government. The officers of the Can¬ 
adian Pacific Railway, which holds title to some 
of the lands once under consideration, and par¬ 
MAP SHOWING LOCATION OF THE GAME PRESERVE. 
The dotted lines show the boundary as first proposed. 
ticularly N. B. Dennis, were very friendly and 
helpful toward the proposal. 
On being convinced that the people of British 
Columbia really desired the proposed preserve, 
Premier McBride referred the matter to the 
Provincial Game Warden, A. Bryan Williams, 
for examination and a report. In 1908 Mr, 
Williams made two long tours of , inspection 
through the East Kootenay region, from Fernie 
to the White River country, and after a search¬ 
ing examination rendered a report. The ex¬ 
ecutive order published on Nov. 15 defines the 
boundaries of the now closed area as recom¬ 
mended by Mr. Williams, and it is highly satis¬ 
factory to all concerned. The southern quarter 
of the Phillips-PIornaday proposition has been 
left out, but an important elk and deer terri¬ 
tory, on the northwest, in the White River 
country, has been added. All best goat and 
sheep country, and incidentally the finest moun¬ 
tain scenery, has been retained. 
The Government and the people of British 
Columbia are to be congratulated on having 
thus promptly and effectively created for them¬ 
selves, and for coming generations, a game pre¬ 
serve that may fairly be called ideal. Although 
nothing is said in the executive order regarding 
the preservation of the forests of the protected 
area, it is reasonably certain that this im¬ 
portant matter will receive timely attention. 
My Rare Birds’-nesis. 
Lockport, N. Y., Jan. 9.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: For some time I have been panting 
to write Forest and Stream about some rare 
donations I have made to the Smithsonian In¬ 
stitution, and an item in the Buffalo Courier 
recently brings the matter to mind again. 
My most valuable donation to the Smithsonian 
Institution was, probably, the nest and eggs of 
the cerulean warbler (Dendroica ccerulia'), later 
changed to Dendroica rara. 
June 8 and 23, 1888, I took nest and eggs of 
this species which, I think, were the first to 
be reported taken in New York State. It was 
the later nest containing three eggs that I sent 
to the institution and in acknowledgment re¬ 
ceived a letter from the late Charles E. Bendire, 
Curator Oological Department, saying: “Am I 
to understand that this nest and eggs are a dona¬ 
tion to the museum collection? I can scarcely 
believe it, and did not expect such a thing. The 
only egg we have purporting to belong to this 
species is evidently, as I all along suspected, a 
fraud, and aside from being nearly as large 
again is differently marked and bears no re¬ 
semblance whatever to your set. Your eggs, as 
far as I know, are the only ones that can be 
positively relied on as yet. If you get any others 
hereafter and wish to dispose of a set or two, 
I wish you would let me know.” 
On June 13, 1891, I found a nest with three 
eggs of the morning warbler (Geothlypis Phila¬ 
delphia) which, as far as I know, was the first 
of this species reported found in New York 
State. The nest with eggs was exhibited with 
a collection of rare nest and eggs at the World’s 
Fair, Chicago, 1893, by Mr. Frank H. Lattise. 
The eggs of this species are quoted at $ 2.75 
each and the cerulean warbler at $2.50 each. 
The nests of the latter were placed on the forks 
of a limb of a small basswood tree, twenty to 
twenty-five feet above the ground, while the 
nest of the morning warbler was near the 
ground in a “cowslip” plant, marsh marigold 
(Caltha palustris). 
I know of other parties finding nest and eggs 
of the cerulean warbler in this vicinity, but not 
of the morning warbler. 
In Captain Charles E. Bendire’s “Life His¬ 
tories of North American Birds,” published by 
the Smithsonian Institution, Vol. I., pg. 141, and 
Vol. IL, pg. 28, he quotes from Forest and 
Stream about my combination of robin, black- 
