November, 1917 
533 
can now mention, with considerable satis¬ 
faction, that thexe are now breeding colo¬ 
nies of egrets in Louisiana, Florida, Geor¬ 
gia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and 
one small group in Missouri. At present 
the Audubon office is guarding every breed¬ 
ing colony of egrets of which it knows, 
with the single exception of one on Avery 
Island, Louisiana, on the estate of Mr. 
Edward A. Mcllhenny, a member of the 
Association, whose pioneer efforts in the 
cause can not be appreciated too highly. 
T HE United States Govern¬ 
ment, appreciating the eco¬ 
nomic value of birds and 
the need of their more adequate 
protection, has established a large 
number of National Bird Reser¬ 
vations,—“for the use of the De¬ 
partment of Agriculture as a pre¬ 
serve and breeding-ground for 
native birds.” The first of these 
was Pelican Island, on Indian 
River, Florida. This famous col¬ 
ony of brown pelicans was threat¬ 
ened by irresponsible tourists and 
local feather-hunters who shot 
enormous numbers of the great 
birds. This island was set aside 
by President Roosevelt in March, 
1903. Other reservations have 
followed in quick succession, se¬ 
curing the safety of millions of 
birds on their nesting-grounds 
during the breeding-season. These 
preserves protect not only the 
birds of our colonies in the South 
Atlantic and Gulf States, but 
reach also to the extensive breed¬ 
ing-grounds of the ducks and 
geese in the great north-west. 
In this connection it may be 
well to mention the Klamath 
Lake Reservation, on the border 
of Oregon and California. This is a 
stretch of marsh and swamp-land about 
fifteen miles long. The shallow lake and 
the extensive growth of tides offer an ideal 
breeding-ground for ducks, geese, grebes, 
pelicans, cormorants, gulls, terns, herons, 
and many species of shore-birds. The 
names of William L. Finley, Field Agent 
of the National Association of Audubon 
Societies, and his associate, Herman T. 
Bohlman, will ever be connected with this 
reservation as it is one of the many monu¬ 
ments to their ability and en¬ 
ergy. They not only worked to 
save this area as a breeding- 
ground for water-fowl but they 
were equally active in the estab¬ 
lishment of the national reser¬ 
vations at Lake Malheur in 
Oregon, Clear Lake in Califor¬ 
nia, and several other particu¬ 
larly favorable places in the 
north-west. The three refuges 
mentioned are all great breed¬ 
ing places for many kinds of 
ducks and geese, as well as 
other species of water-fowl and 
waders. Mr. Finley reported 
the following after visiting the 
Lake Malheur region in 1908, 
just before the reservation was 
established 
“. . . This region, beyond 
question, is the most promising 
of the known fields for the pro¬ 
tection and preservation of 
water-fowl and several other 
birds, that exist in the United 
States. The water surface in 
the proposed reservation covers 
an area of about 120 square 
miles. Many thousands of 
water- and shore-birds breed 
annually, and countless other 
thousands, including swans, use 
the lakes as resting- and feed¬ 
ing-places during the spring 
and fall migrations. Among the breeding 
birds are Canada geese, of which over a 
thousand young birds were counted within 
the distance of one mile along the shore, 
many species of ducks, ring-billed, Cali¬ 
fornia and other gulls, white pelicans, 
Farallone cormorants, Caspian, black and 
Forster’s terns, eared grebe, white-faced 
glossy ibis, great blue and night herons, 
coot, and many smaller shore birds. Many 
large colonies of the species named were 
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