The Season 



37 



a flock of five at the Long Meadow Gun 

 Club. One or two had been killed there 

 earlier in the season. This is an uncommon 

 Duck in the eastern part of Minnesota. 

 About twenty-five Ring-billed Gulls were 

 seen on the 31st. This Gull has been rather 

 more common than usual this fall. Three 

 or four were seen at Lake Minnetonka as 

 late as December 12. A single Turkey 

 Buzzard was seen on October 31. 



With the freezing of the sloughs and 

 small lakes on November lo-ii, the sur- 

 face-feeding Ducks praclically all left this 

 vicinity. Up to this time the usual flight 

 of Ring-necks and Scaups had not 

 occurred, only occasional small flocks 

 appearing now and then. But it was 

 reported that on the loth a great south- 

 ward movement of Ducks took place, 

 passing along the Minnesota River Valley, 

 mostly high in the air, flock succeeding 

 flock for hours. Apparently this mid- 

 Xovember flight largely passed by this 

 locality in spite of the open large lakes, and 

 it was not until the first week of December 

 that large flocks of diving Ducks appeared 

 in Lake Minnetonka and elsewhere. On De- 

 cember 12 the writer made a trip to Lake 

 Minnetonka to investigate conditions, and 

 in a limited survey saw many Golden-eyes, 

 a considerable number of large ^Mergansers 

 ("probably both species), a small flock of 

 BuflBeheads, a single male Mallard, and 

 many hundreds, perhaps thousands, of 

 Ring-necks. But while it is safe to say that 

 there were thousands and thousands of 

 Ducks in this great lake, the number 

 present by no means equaled the vast 

 concourse that assembled there last year — 

 in the first half of November, as the lake 

 froze over much earlier last year. 



Down at Heron Lake in the south- 

 western part of the state, the lake, which 

 is shallow, froze over in November and 

 the great body of Ducks left. It then 

 opened again with the milder weather and 

 great numbers of Mallards gathered there 

 and continued to afford good shooting 

 until the middle of December. .All this 

 sounds as though Ducks were plentiful, and 

 so they were at times and in certain places, 

 but the general consensus of opinions 



among hunters and other observers has 

 been that, on the whole, Ducks have not 

 been nearly as abundant this fall as they 

 were last. Various supposed causes have 

 been offered in explanation — chieflj' the 

 unusual weather conditions. But it is 

 probable that last year was an accidentally 

 e.xceptional season of plenty due to cir- 

 cumstances farther west that forced east- 

 ward large numbers of birds that did not be- 

 long to this area, thus causing an abnormal 

 abundance in this state and adjacent 

 territory. If this assumption is correct the 

 two years are not fairly comparable. 



The open season for Ruffed Grouse this 

 year found the birds wonderfully abun- 

 dant, and they were killed throughout the 

 northern part of the state in great numbers. 

 The long preceding close season had re- 

 sulted in their being surprisingly tame in 

 many places, and this made the slaughter- 

 ing of them an easy matter. One hunter 

 told me, with some embarrassment, that of 

 twenty-five Grouse killed he had been 

 forced to shoot all but three on the ground, 

 as they would not take wing 1 It remains to 

 be seen whether the present plan of 

 alternating open and closed seasons will 

 suffice to preserve this grand bird. 



Reports from all over the state seem to 

 indicate that the Prairie Chicken, or 

 Pinnated Grouse, is decidedly on the 

 increase. If so, it is a pity that it cannot 

 be given a long period of protection in the 

 hope that it might become reestablished 

 again in numbers really worth while. 

 Even in the southeastern part of the state, 

 where Prairie Chickens have been practi- 

 cally extinct for some years past, word has 

 come of their presence in one or two 

 localities under conditions indicating that 

 they bred there last j'ear and will probably 

 breed the coming year. This is encourag- 

 ing but nothing short of the most rigid 

 and continued protection can save a bird 

 that is so easily killed under modern 

 hunting conditions. 



There have been no reports of winter 

 visitant birds from this locality as yet. — 

 Thom.\s S. Roberts, Zoological Museum, 

 University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 

 Minn. 



