The Bird Colonies of the Olympiades

Abstract

The recent creation by executive order of three reserves among the islands which lie off the west coast of Washington has served to call attention for the first time, in an ornithological way at least, to this hitherto little-known coast.The reasons for previous neglect are not far to seek.No really safe harbors offer, for even the smallest craft, between the mouth of Gray's Harbor, Lat.46° 56'" N., and the Straits of Juan de Fuca, Lat.48° 24' N. The prevailing winds are westerly, and the aspect of the coast so menacing, as viewed from the seaward side, that mariners have always given it a wide berth, save when seized by some hapless mischance of reckoning or tackle.No commercial exploitation of the tributary country has been attempted, beyond the preempting of timber lands some twenty years ago, and the occupation by hardy settlers of a few small prairies and rich alluvial bottoms.Only recently a spur of the Northern Pacific Railway has been built from Hoquiam, on Gray's Harbor, to Moclips, on the coast; and this latter point marks nearly the northern extension of a splendid sea-beach, hard as macadam, which stretches south, practically to the Columbia River.To the north of Moclips the beginning of the rough way is marked by Point Grenville, and the ocean drive becomes a tradition.