motif of the larger movement. Of
its inception and development, he has kindly furnished me the following
account, accompanied by many beautiful photographs of egrets breeding in
sanctuary, one of which appears on page 27.

In some recent publications I have seen statements to the effect
that you believed the egrets were nearing extinction, owing to the
persecution of plume hunters, so I know that you will be interested
in the enclosed photographs, which were taken in my heron rookery,
situated within 100 yards of my factory, where I am now sitting
dictating this letter.

This rookery was started by me in 1896, because I saw at that time
that the herons of Louisiana were being rapidly exterminated by
plume hunters. My thought was that the way to preserve them would be
to start an artificial rookery of them where they could be
thoroughly protected. With this end in view I built a small pond,
taking in a wet space that contained a few willows and other shrubs
which grow in wet places.

In a large cage in this pond, I raised some snowy herons. After
keeping the birds in confinement for something over six months I
turned them loose, hoping that they would come back the next season,
as they were perfectly tame and were used to seeing people. I was
rewarded the next season by four of the birds returning, and nesting
in the willows in the pond. This was the start of a rookery that now
covers 35 acres, and contains more than twenty thousand pairs of
nesting birds, embracing not only the egrets but all the species of
herons found in Louisiana, besides many other water birds.

With a view to carrying on the preservation of our birds on a larger
scale, Mr. Chas. W. Ward and I have recently donated to the State of
Louisiana 13,000 acres of what I consider to be the finest wild fowl
feeding ground on the Louisiana coast, as it contains the only
gravel beach for 50 miles, and all of the geese within that space
come daily to this beach for gravel. This territory also produces a
great amount of natural food for geese and ducks.

SAVING THE GULLS AND TERNS.--But for the vigorous and long-continued
efforts of the Audubon Societies, I think our coasts would by this time
have been swept clean of the gulls and terns that now adorn it. Twenty
years ago the milliners were determined to have them all. The fight for
them was long, and hotly contested, but the Audubon Societies won. I