140 The Ottawa Naturalist. [February 



Cranes and Swans These birds surfer in their breeding haunts 

 in the far north. Few are killed after they migrate. Both must 

 have conditions where they are not much disturbed when at rest; large 

 bodies of water free from pleasure craft for swans and large open 

 plains for cranes. They mostly now pass over their former winter 

 quarters and those they used on migrations formerly, as they are 

 too much disturbed. Protection will not change this. 



Long Billed Curlew (Namenius americanus Wies.) are bound 

 to decrease and perhaps disappear. Their favourite breeding 

 grounds now are summer-fallows and cultivation destroys most of 

 their nests. Crows and coyotes also get their eggs and young. No- 

 body shoots them in B. C. 



Hudsonian Curlew (Numenius hudsonicus Lath.) Plentiful 

 all along the Pacific coast. Only pass through B. C. in spring and 

 fall mostly in May. Nobody shoots them. 



Eskimo Curlew {Numenius borealis Forse). The disappearance 

 of this bird like that of the Labrador duck and passenger pigeon 

 will always be an unexplained mystery. 



Wood Duck (Aix sponsa L.) Still plentiful where the proper 

 breeding conditions exist. It is bound to disappear from the east 

 where the big timber is cut away and the woodland ponds and 

 streams dry up. 



The commonest goose in B. C. is Hutchins goose (Branta 

 canadensis hutchinsi Rich.) Practically all of these pass through 

 between 1st October and 25th November and again from 10th April 

 to 20th May. 



Ducks. Canvas backs, Redheads, and scaups or blue-bills are 

 all increasing in the interior of B. C. where they are good game 

 ducks. This is probably due to the increase of duck weed in the 

 larger lakes. The bulk arrive in from the south late in January 

 in Okanagan and get extraordinarily far. Few are shot in com- 

 parison to the thousands that come north. 



Up to March 1st the proportion of males to females in all ducks 

 except Mallards is about 3 to 1. In the Mallard the proportion of 

 the sexes is the same the year around. In California and Mexico 

 the females of most ducks are in excess. Mating with most ducks 

 commences about 1st March in our province. 



Grouse. All grouse are practically permanent residents wherever 

 found and should have plenty of protection. Make open season short 

 and bag limit small. First October should be early enough for open 

 season to start. Bag limit eight of any one species per day. They 



EDITORIAL NOTE: The above notes are taken from a valuable 

 letter dated August 19, 1917, which I received from Major Brooks in reply 

 to a request for his opinion on a number of points in connection 'with the 

 Regulations under the Migratory Birds' Convention Act. C.G.H. 



