February, 1920] 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



37 



is left to enjoy his prize in peace. Occasionally 

 one sees a solitary Swamp Sparrow as he patters 

 over the mud and trash caused by the overflow of 

 lake or river. His discordant metallic c/ii'n^ does 

 not impress one as a feathered friend at all. The 

 first time I visited the Nova Scotia wilderness in 

 quest of big game, when a boy of sixteen, I re- 

 marked upon the absence of crows to an old guide. 

 "No sir," said he, "you will never see or hear one 

 back here, but I should like to bring a hve one out 

 here and let him go; he wouldn't live long." 

 "Why?" I queried. "Oh," the guide replied, 

 "he would fly up to one of these big granite rocks 



and caw himself to death trying to locate a friend." 

 This fall I was surprised to hear a Song Sparrow 

 burst forth into song. He was at least twenty- 

 five miles from civilization. 'I waved my hat in his 

 direction and wished him a safe journey south and 

 an early return next spring. He was the exception 

 to the rule. 



We may sum up the perchmg birds that may be 

 seen in the wilderness here as follows: Great- 

 Horned Owl ; Raven ; Jay ; Chickadee ; Crossbill ; 

 Flicker; Robin; Hawk; Swamp Sparrow. The 

 first five mentioned are residents. 



H. A. P. Smith, Digby, N.S. 



BOOK NOTICES AND REVIEWS. 



Lead Poisoning in Waterfowl, by Alexander 

 Wetmore, Bulletin No. 793, U.S. Dept. Agr., Pro- 

 fessional Paper, Washington, D.C.. July 31, 1919. 

 This is a twelve-page pamphlet of considerable in- 

 terest to sportsmen, conservationists and ornitholog- 

 ists. Many of our ducking marshes have been shot 

 over for a good many years. Each shot so fired 

 scatters in the neighborhood of an ounce of shot over 

 the bottom. Mr. Wetmore estimates that on one large 

 marsh examined by him an average of 75,000 shells 

 are fired annually. This amounts to over two tons 

 a year. As lead shot resists corrosion and is prac- 

 tically everlasting, the effect is cumulative and 

 amounts to over eighty tons in the past twenty j'ears. 

 The shot gradually sinks in the mud, of course, but 

 as tipping ducks, such as Mallard, Pintail and 

 others, dig down into it from 12 to 16 inches, 

 it is evident that their opportunity for picking up 

 shot is considerable. On examination the author 

 found in the mud from the bottom in the neighbor- 

 hood of favorite shooting stands from 20 to 22 No. 

 6 shot in each sample dredged up and examined. 

 The ducks in sifting through the mud for food re- 

 tain any small hard particle like gravel and the 

 presence of real gravel does not seem to prevent 

 them from taking the shot as well. Experiments 

 on captive specimens of wild species proved that six 

 pellets, often less, are fatal to ducks. 



In this manner large numbers of ducks have been 

 poisoned in certain marshes every year though it is 

 only lately (see Bowles, Auk, XXV, 1908, pp. 

 312-313) that the cause of the deaths was recog- 

 nized. By a process of experiment and elimina- 

 tion it was proved that it is the lead content and not 

 the additions to the metal such as arsenic that causes 

 the trouble, though chilled shot is less rapid in its 

 effects than soft. 



The paper deals at length with the symptoms and 

 pathology of the poisoned conditions. The first ef- 



fect is a weakening of the wing muscles until the 

 power of flight is lost, difficulty is experienced in 

 walking and partial or complete paralysis of the 

 legs ensues. The wings drag and the tail droops. 

 The bird's appetite remains good and even increases, 

 but the food does not seem to pass the stomach and 

 the proventriculus and lower esophagus become dis- 

 tended with food. The fecal matter is green and 

 watery. The heart is finally affected and death 

 comes in from a few days to five weeks. 



Though magnesic sulphate in water, 60 grams to 

 10 quarts, seems to give relief and sometimes cure 

 in individual treatments no suggestions as to treat- 

 ment or prevention on a large scale is proposed. It 

 is suggested that by its nature the trouble is more 

 likely to increase than decrease but the author 

 seems more anxious over the effect the lead poisoning 

 will have, even in the cases of birds showing con- 

 siderable resistance to or even recovery from it, on 

 reproductive fertility, than over the number it actu- 

 ally kills. 



So far only Mallards, Pintails, Canvas-backs, 

 Whistling Swans and Marbled Godwits have been 

 known to be affected, and as shot is common in 

 stomachs of wild ducks examined by the Biological 

 Survey, it seems that some individuals or species 

 have more or less tolerance for, or resistance to, 

 lead poisoning, or its effects would be more wide- 

 spread and serious. It would be well for the sports- 

 men to look out for sickly ducks and examine them 

 for lead poisoning, in order that fuller details may 

 be known. 



P. A. Taverner. 



Annotated Check List of the Macrolepid- 

 OPTERA of Alberta. By . Kenneth Bowman. 

 Published by the Alberta Natural History Society, 

 Red Deer, Alta., 16 pp., February, 1919. 



For a number of years the late F. H. Wolley- 



