BIRD RESERVATIONS
The creation of reservations where wild birds can be protected at all
times is a modern idea, brought prominently to public attention by the
efforts of the Audubon Society. The first interest that the United
States Government manifested in the subject was about thirteen years
ago. On May 29, 1901, the legislature of Florida was induced to enact
a statute making it a misdemeanour to kill any non-game birds of the
State with the exception of the Crow and a few other species regarded
by the lawmakers as being injurious to man's interests.
First Federal Bird Reservation--Shortly afterward the Audubon Society
friends employed a man to protect from the raids of tourists and
feather hunters a {191} large colony of Brown Pelicans that used for
nesting purposes a small, muddy, mangrove-covered island in Indian
River on the Atlantic Coast. Soon murmurings began to be heard.
"Pelicans eat fish and should not be protected," declared one Floridan.
"We need Pelican quills to sell to the feather dealers," chimed in
another with a keen eye to the main chance. There was talk of
repealing the law at the next session of the legislature, and the
hearts of the Audubon workers were troubled. At first they thought of
buying the island, so as to be in a position to protect its feathered
inhabitants by preventing trespass. However, it proved to be
unsurveyed Government land, and the idea was suggested of getting the
Government to make a reservation for the protection of the birds. The
matter was submitted to President Roosevelt, who no sooner ascertained
the facts that the land was not suited for agricultural purposes, and
that the Audubon Society would guard it, than with characteristic
directness he issued the following remarkable edict: "It is hereby
ordered that Pelican {192} Island in Indian River is reserved and set
apart for the use of the Department of Agriculture as a preserve and
breeding ground for native birds."
The gist of this order, bearing the authorization of the Secretary of
Agriculture, was quickly painted on a large sign, and placed on the
island, where all who sailed near might read. Imagine the chagrin of
the Audubon workers upon learning from their warden that when the
Pelicans returned that season to occupy the island as before, they took
one look at this declaration of the President and immediately departed,
one and all, to a neighbouring island entirely outside of the
reservation! Signs less alarming in size were substituted, and the
Pelicans, their feelings appeased, condescended to return, and have
since dwelt peacefully under the protecting care of the Government.
_Congressional Sanction._--In view of the fact that some persons
contended that the President had over-stepped his authority in making a
bird reservation, a law was drafted, and passed by Congress,
specifically {193} giving protection to birds on lands set apart as
National bird reservations. The legal difficulties thus removed, the
way lay open for the creation of other bird reservations, and the
Audubon Society seized the opportunity. Explorations were started to
locate other Government territories containing important colonies of
water birds. This work was quickly extended over many parts of the
United States. Hunters of eggs and plumes were busy plying their
trades wherever birds were known to assemble in great numbers, and the
work had to be hurried if the birds were to be saved.
[Illustration: The Downy Woodpecker is fond of suet]
Mr. Frank M. Miller, of New Orleans, reported a case in which five
thousand eggs had been broken on one Louisiana island inhabited by sea
birds in order that fresh eggs might subsequently be gathered into the
boats waiting at anchor off shore. No wonder that friends of water
birds were profoundly concerned about their future welfare, and hailed
with delight Mr. Roosevelt's quick action.
Mr. William Dutcher, President of the National {194} Association of
Audubon Societies, was so much pleased with the results achieved by the
Federal reservation work of 1905, that he declared in his annual report
that the existence of the Association was justified if it had done
nothing more than secure Federal bird reservations and had helped to
guard them during the breeding season.
That year President Roosevelt established four more bird refuges. One
of these, Stump Lake, in North Dakota, became an important nursery for
Gulls, Terns, Ducks, and Cormorants in summer, and a safe harbour for
wild fowl during the spring and fall migrations. Huron Island and
Siskiwit in Lake Superior, the homes of innumerable Herring Gulls, were
made perpetual bird sanctuaries, and Audubon wardens took up their
lonely watch to guard them against all comers.
_Florida Reservations._--At the mouth of Tampa Bay, Florida, is a
ninety-acre island, Passage Key. Here the wild bird life of the Gulf
Coast has swarmed in the mating season since white man first knew the
{195} country. Thousands of Herons of various species, as well as
Terns and shore birds, make this their home. Dainty little Ground
Doves flutter in and out among the cactus on the sheltered sides of the
sand dunes; Plovers and Sandpipers chase each other along the beaches,
and the Burrowing Owls here hide in their holes by night and roam over
the island by day.
When this place was described to President Roosevelt, he immediately
declared that the birds must not be killed there without the consent of
the Secretary of Agriculture. With one stroke of his pen he brought
this desirable condition into existence, and Mrs. Asa Pillsbury was
duly appointed to protect the island. She is one of the few women bird
wardens in America.
These things happened in the early days of Government work for the
protection of water birds. The Audubon Society had found a new field
for endeavour, highly prolific in results. With the limited means at
its command the work of ornithological exploration was carried forward.
Every island, mud flat, and sand bar along the coast of the Mexican
{196} Gulf, from Texas to Key West, was visited by trained
ornithologists who reported their findings to the New York office.
These were forwarded to Washington for the approval of Dr. T. S. Palmer
of the Biological Survey, and Frank Bond, of the General Land Office,
where executive orders were prepared for the President's signature.
The Breton Island Reservation off the coast of Louisiana, including
scores of islands and bars, was established in 1904. Six additional
reservations were soon created along the west coast of Florida, thus
extending a perpetual guardianship over the colonies of sea and
coastwise birds in that territory--the pitiful remnants of vast
rookeries despoiled to add to the profits of the millinery trade.
The work was early started in the West resulting in the Malheur Lake
and Klamath Lake reservations of Oregon. The latter is to-day the
summer home of myriads of Ducks, Geese, Grebes, White Pelicans, and
other wild waterfowl, and never a week passes that the waters of the
lake are not fretted with the {197} prow of the Audubon patrol boat, as
the watchful warden extends his vigil over the feathered wards of our
Government.
Federal bird reservations have been formed not only of lakes with reedy
margins and lonely islands in the sea, they have been made to include
numerous Government reservoirs built in the arid regions of the West.
_Distant Reservations._--Once set in motion, this movement for Federal
bird reservations soon swept beyond the boundaries of the United
States. One was established in Porto Rico, and several others among
the islands of Alaska, on whose rocky cliffs may be seen to-day clouds
of Puffins, Auks, and Guillemots--queer creatures that stand upright
like a man--crowding and shouldering each other about on the ledges
which overlook the dark waters of Bering Sea. One reservation in
Alaska covers much of the lower delta of the Yukon, including the great
tundra country south of the river, embracing within its borders a
territory greater than the {198} State of Connecticut. From the
standpoint of preserving rare species of birds this is doubtless one of
the most important reservations which has come into existence. It is
here that many of the wild fowl, which frequent the California coast in
winter, find a summer refuge safe alike from the bullet of the white
man and the arrow of the Indian. Here it is that the lordly Emperor
Goose is probably making his last stand on the American continent
against the aggressions of the destructive white race.
Away out in the western group of the Hawaiian Archipelago are located
some of the world's most famous colonies of birds. From remote regions
of the Pacific sea birds journey hither when the instinct for mating is
strong upon them. Here come "Love Birds" or White Terns, and
Albatrosses, great winged wonders whose home is on the rolling deep.
The number seems almost beyond belief to men and women unfamiliar with
bird life in congested colonies. On February 3, 1909, these islands
and reefs were included in an executive order whereby {199} the
"Hawaiian Island Reservation" was brought into existence. This is the
largest of all our Government bird reserves. It extends through more
than five degrees of longitude.
At intervals in the past these islands had been visited by vessels
engaged in the feather trade, and although no funds were available for
establishing a warden patrol among them, it was fondly hoped that the
notice to the world that these birds were now wards of the United
States would be sufficient to insure their safety.
A rude shock was felt, therefore, when late that year a rumour reached
Washington that a Japanese poaching vessel had been sighted heading for
these waters. The revenue cutter _Thetis_, then lying at Honolulu, was
at once ordered on a cruise to the bird islands. Early in 1910 the
vessel returned, bringing with her twenty-three Japanese feather
hunters who had been captured at their work of destruction. In the
hold of the vessel were stored two hundred and fifty-nine thousand
pairs of wings, {200} two and a half tons of baled feathers, and
several large cases and boxes of stuffed birds. Had the Japanese
escaped with their booty they would have realized over one hundred
thousand dollars for their plunder. This island was again raided by
feather collectors in the spring of 1915.
_President Taft a Bird Protectionist._--President Taft continued the
policy of creating bird reservations begun by Mr. Roosevelt, and a
number were established during his administration. President Wilson
likewise is a warm advocate of bird protection. One of many
reservations he has created is the Panama Canal Zone, which is in
charge of the Panama Canal Commission. With this exception and that of
the Pribilof Reservation, which is in charge of the Bureau of
Fisheries, all Government bird reservations are under the care of the
Department of Agriculture, and their administration is directed by the
Bureau of the Biological Survey. The National Association of Audubon
Societies still contributes in a modest way to the financial support of
some of the wardens. {201} Below is given a full list of the Federal
bird reservations created up to January, 1917, with the dates, and in
the order of, their establishment:
LIST OF NATIONAL BIRD RESERVATIONS
NO. NAME DATE OF
ESTABLISHMENT
1. Pelican Island, Fla. . . . . . . . . . . . . Mar. 14, 1903
2. Breton Island, La. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Oct. 4, 1904
3. Stump Lake, N. Dak. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mar. 9, 1905
4. Huron Islands, Mich. . . . . . . . . . . . . Oct. 10, 1905
5. Siskiwit Islands, Mich. . . . . . . . . . . . Oct. 10, 1905
6. Passage Key, Fla. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Oct. 10, 1905
7. Indian Key, Fla. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Feb. 10, 1906
8. Tern Islands, La. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aug. 8, 1907
9. Shell Keys, La. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aug. 17, 1907
10. Three Arch Rocks, Oregon . . . . . . . . . . Oct. 14, 1907
11. Flattery Rocks, Wash. . . . . . . . . . . . . Oct. 23, 1907
12. Quillayute Needles, Wash. . . . . . . . . . . Oct. 23, 1907
13. Copalis Rock, Wash. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Oct. 23, 1907
14. East Timbalier, La. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dec. 7, 1907
15. Mosquito Inlet, Fla. . . . . . . . . . . . . Feb. 24, 1908
16. Tortugas Keys, Fla. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Apr. 6, 1908
17. Key West, Fla. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aug. 8, 1908
18. Klamath Lake, Oregon . . . . . . . . . . . . Aug. 8, 1908
19. Lake Malheur, Oregon . . . . . . . . . . . . Aug. 18, 1908
20. Chase Lake, N. Dak. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aug. 28, 1908
21. Pine Island, Fla. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sept. 15, 1908
22. Palma Sola, Fla. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sept. 26, 1908
23. Matlacha Pass, Fla. . . . . . . . . . . . . Sept. 26, 1908
24. Island Bay, Fla. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Oct. 23, 1908
25. Lock-Katrine, Wyo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Oct. 26, 1908
26. Hawaiian Islands, Hawaii. . . . . . . . . . . Feb. 3, 1909
27. Salt River, Ariz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Feb. 25, 1909
28. East Park, Cal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Feb. 25, 1909
{202}
29. Deer Flat, Idaho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Feb. 25, 1909
30. Willow Creek, Mont. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Feb. 25, 1909
31. Carlsbad, N. Mex. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Feb. 25, 1909
32. Rio Grande, N. Mex. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Feb. 25, 1909
33. Cold Springs, Oregon . . . . . . . . . . . . Feb. 25, 1909
34. Belle Fourche, S. Dak. . . . . . . . . . . . Feb. 25, 1909
35. Strawberry Valley, Utah . . . . . . . . . . . Feb. 25, 1909
36. Keechelus, Wash. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Feb. 25, 1909
37. Kachess, Wash. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Feb. 25, 1909
38. Clealum, Wash. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Feb. 25, 1909
39. Bumping Lake, Wash. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Feb. 25, 1909
40. Conconully, Wash. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Feb. 25, 1909
41. Pathfinder, Wyo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Feb. 25, 1909
42. Shoshone, Wyo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Feb. 25, 1909
43. Minidoka, Idaho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Feb. 25, 1909
44. Bering Sea, Alaska . . . . . . . . . . . . . Feb. 27, 1909
45. Tuxedni, Alaska . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Feb. 27, 1909
46. St. Lazaria, Alaska . . . . . . . . . . . . . Feb. 27, 1909
47. Yukon Delta, Alaska . . . . . . . . . . . . . Feb. 27, 1909
48. Culebra, P. R. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Feb. 27, 1909
49. Farallon, Calif. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Feb. 27, 1909
50. Pribilof, Alaska . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Feb. 27, 1909
51. Bogoslof, Alaska . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mar. 2, 1909
52. Clear Lake, Calif. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Apr. 11, 1911
53. Forrester Island, Alaska . . . . . . . . . . Jan. 11, 1913
54. Hazy Islands, Alaska . . . . . . . . . . . . Jan. 11, 1913
55. Niobrara, Nebr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jan. 11, 1913
56. Green Bay, Wis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Feb. 21, 1913
57. Chamisso Island, Alaska . . . . . . . . . . . Dec. 7, 1912
58. Pishkun, Montana. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dec. 17, 1912
59. Desecheo Island, P. R. . . . . . . . . . . . Dec. 19, 1912
60. Gravel Island, Wis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jan. 9, 1913
61. Aleutian Islands, Alaska . . . . . . . . . . Mar. 3, 1913
62. Walker Lake, Ark. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Apr. 31, 1913
{203}
63. Petit Bois Island, Ala. and Miss. . . . . . . May 6, 1913
64. Anaho Island, Nevada. . . . . . . . . . . . Sept. 4, 1913
65. Smith Island, Wash. . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 6, 1914
66. Ediz Hook, Wash. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jan. 20, 1915
67. Dungeness Spit, Wash. . . . . . . . . . . . . Jan. 20, 1915
68. Big Lake, Arkansas . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aug. 2, 1915
69. Goat Island, California . . . . . . . . . . . Aug. 9, 1916
70. North Platte, Nebraska . . . . . . . . . . . Aug. 21, 1916
_Audubon Society Reservations._--It may be noted from this list that
there are no Government bird reservations in the original thirteen
colonies. The reason is that there are no Government waste lands
containing bird colonies in these states. To protect the
colony-breeding birds found there other means were necessary. The
Audubon Society employs annually about sixty agents to guard in summer
the more important groups of water birds along the Atlantic Coast and
about some of the lakes of the interior. Water-bird colonies are
usually situated on islands where the birds are comparatively free from
the attacks of natural enemies; hence the question of guarding them
resolves itself mainly into the question of keeping people from
disturbing the birds {204} during the late spring and summer months.
Painted signs will not do this. Men hired for the purpose constitute
the only adequate means. Some of the protected islands have been
bought or leased by the Audubon Society, but in many cases they are
still under private ownership and the privilege of placing a guard had
to be obtained as a favour from the owner. Probably half a million
breeding water birds now find protection in the Audubon reservations.
On the islands off the Maine coast the principal birds safeguarded by
this means are the Herring Gull, Arctic Tern, Wilson's Tern, Leach's
Petrel, Black Guillemot, and Puffin. There are protected colonies of
Terns on Long Island; of Terns and Laughing Gulls on the New Jersey
coast; of Black Skimmers, and of various Terns, in Virginia and North
Carolina.
One of the greatest struggles the Audubon Society has ever had has been
to raise funds every year for the protection of the colonies of Egrets
and Ibis in the South Atlantic States. The story of this fight is
longer than {205} can be told in one short chapter. The protected
colonies are located mainly in the low swampy regions of North
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. I have been in many of
these "rookeries" and know that the warden who undertakes to guard one
of them takes his life in his hand. Perhaps a description of one will
answer more or less for the twenty other Heron colonies the Society has
under its care.
_The Corkscrew Rookery._--Some time ago I visited the warden of this
reservation, located in the edge of the "Big Cypress" Swamp thirty-two
miles south of Ft. Myers, Florida. Arriving at the colony late in the
evening, after having travelled thirty miles without seeing a human
being or a human habitation, we killed a rattlesnake and proceeded to
make camp. The shouting of a pair of Sandhill Cranes awakened us at
daylight, and, to quote Greene, the warden, the sun was about "two
hands high" when we started into the rookery. We crossed a glade two
hundred yards wide and then entered the swamp. Progress {206} was
slow, for the footing was uncertain and the tall sawgrass cut our
wrists and faces.
There are many things unspeakably stimulating about a journey in such a
tropical swamp. You work your way through thick, tangled growths of
water plants and hanging vines. You clamber over huge fallen logs damp
with rank vegetation, and wade through a maze of cypress "knees."
Unwittingly, you are sure to gather on your clothing a colony of
ravenous ticks from some swaying branch. Redbugs bent on mischief
scramble up on you by the score and bury themselves in your skin, while
a cloud of mosquitoes waves behind you like a veil. In the sombre
shadows through which you move you have a feeling that there are many
unseen things that crawl and glide and fly, and a creepy feeling about
the edges of your scalp becomes a familiar sensation. Once we came
upon the trail of a bear and found the going easier when we waded on
hands and knees through the opening its body had made.
In the more open places the water was completely {207} covered with
floating plants that Greene called "wild lettuce." These appeared to
be uniform in size, and presented an absolutely level surface except in
a few places where slight elevations indicated the presence of
inquisitive alligators, whose gray eyes we knew were watching our
movements through the lettuce leaves.
Although the swamp was unpleasant under foot, we had but to raise our
eyes to behold a world of beauty. The purple blossoms of air plants,
and the delicate petals of other orchids greeted us everywhere. From
the boughs overhead long streamers of gray Spanish moss waved and
beckoned in the breeze. Still higher, on gaunt branches of giant
cypresses a hundred feet above our heads, great, grotesque Wood Ibises
were standing on their nests, or taking flight for their feeding
grounds a dozen miles southward.
[Illustration: The Grotesque Wood Ibis]
We were now fairly in the midst of an immense bird city, and some of
the inhabitants were veritable giants in the bird world. The body of a
Wood Ibis {209} is about the size of a Turkey hen. Its long, bare neck
terminates in a most remarkable fashion, for the top of the head is not
only innocent of feathers but also destitute of skin--"Flintheads," the
people call the bird. Its bill is nearly ten inches long, slightly
curved and very massive. Woe to the unlucky fish or luckless rat upon
whom a blow falls from the Flinthead's heavy beak! There were probably
one hundred thousand of these birds inhabiting Corkscrew Rookery at the
time of my visit. There were also large colonies of the smaller White
Ibis and several varieties of Heron. Eight of the almost extinct
Roseate Spoonbills wheeled into view above the swamp, but quickly
passed from sight.
[Illustration: Members of a junior Audubon class at Fergus Falls,
Minnesota]
The most interesting birds, those concerning which the Audubon Society
is most solicitous, are the White Egrets. These snow-white models of
grace and beauty have been persecuted for their plumes almost to the
point of extermination, and here is situated the largest assemblage of
them left in Florida.
"Those 'long whites' are never off my mind for a {210} minute," said
the warden, as we paused to watch some fly over. "Two men came to my
camp last week who thought I didn't know them, but I did. They were
old-time plume hunters. They said they were hunting cattle, but I knew
better--they were after Egrets and came to see if I was on guard. I
told them if they saw any one after plumes to pass {211} the word that
I would shoot on sight any man with a gun who attempted to enter the
Corkscrew. I would do it, too," he added as he tapped the barrel of
his Winchester. "It is terrible to hear the young birds calling for
food after the old ones have been killed to get the feathers for rich
women to wear. I am not going to have my birds sacrificed that way."
[Illustration: Hungry Young Egrets]
The teeming thousands of birds in this rookery feed their young to a
more or less extent on fish, and from the nests many fragments fall
into the mud and water below. In the wise economy of nature few
objects of real value are suffered to go to waste. Resting on the
water plants, coiled on logs, or festooned in the low bushes, numerous
cotton-mouthed water-moccasins lie in wait. Silently and motionless
they watch and listen, now and then raising their heads when a light
splash tells them of the approach of some heedless frog, or of the
falling of some dead fish like manna from the nests above. May is the
dry season, and the low water of the swamp accounted in a measure for
the unusual number of snakes to {212} be seen. Exercising a fair
amount of caution, I slew that morning fourteen poisonous reptiles, one
of which measured more than five feet in length and had a girth I was
just able to encompass with both hands.
_Wardens Shot by Plume Hunters._--This is a region where the Audubon
warden must constantly keep his lonely watch, for should he leave even
for a short time there would be danger of the colony being raided and
the protective work of many seasons wiped out. A successful shooting
trip of plume hunters to the Corkscrew might well net the gunners as
much as five thousand dollars, and in a country where money is scarce
that would mean a magnificent fortune. The warden is fully alive to
this fact, and is ever on the alert. Many of the plume hunters are
desperate men, and he never knows what moment he may need to grasp his
rifle to defend his life in the shadows of the Big Cypress, where
alligators and vultures would make short shrift of his remains.
He remembers, as he goes his rounds among the birds day by day, or lies
in his tent at night, that a {213} little way to the south, on a lonely
sand key, lies buried Guy Bradley, who was done to death by plume
hunters while guarding for the Audubon Society the Cuthbert Egret
Rookery. On Orange Lake, northward, the warden in charge still carries
in his body a bullet from a plume gatherer's gun. Only three days
before my visit Greene's nearest brother warden on duty at the
Alligator Bay Colony had a desperate rifle battle with four poachers
who, in defiance of law and decency, attempted to shoot the Egrets
which he was paid to protect.
I like to think of Greene as I saw him the last night in camp, his
brown, lean face aglow with interest as he told me many things about
the birds he guarded. The next day I was to leave him, and night after
night he would sit by his fire, a lonely representative of the Audubon
Society away down there on the edge of the Big Cypress, standing as
best he could between the lives of the birds he loved and the
insatiable greed of Fashion.
{214}