January, 1892.J 



AND OOLOGIST. 



13 



Correspondence. 



Editor of O. <b O.: 



The Massachusetts Society for the Protection 

 of Game has lately been introducing game- 

 birds into the state, and have stocked some 

 muchly depleted sections with Bob-white, 

 Sharp-tailed and Pinnated Grouse and Gam- 

 bel's Partridge. A member of the committee 

 has now at his place in our market a consign- 

 ment of eleven English Partridges, imported 

 for a friend in Oregon. This fact prompts the 

 Boston Herald to say that "There is little 

 doubt that they will find the climate suitable 

 to their needs. It seems, however, risky to 

 import so small a number. In stocking a 

 ground with game or a stream with fisli it is 

 always safest to rely upon a good-sized plant- 

 ing rather than upon a few individuals. Game 

 propagation is becoming quite the rage with 

 sportsmen, and is a relief after the slaughter 

 that has been going on all over Xortli America 

 for the last twenty-five years. ' Unless game 

 in planted and protected the next generation 

 may take to billiards or skittles or some other 

 harmless recreation, but there will be but 

 little use for either scatter-guu or rifle.' " The 

 scribe of your neighbor little presumed, I 

 tliink, of what he was writing, and how much 

 his words meant in the last sentence of his 

 paragraph. And how true it is that so many 

 birds are destroyed by sportsmen (?) that the 

 country has to be restocked. And yet "The 

 SiJoitsman" is allowed a few months in each 

 year when he can slaugliter at his pleasure all 

 the "game-birds" that he chooses. Good! 

 Why should not the "Naturalist" also have 

 an ()i)en season when he can shoot a few birds ? 

 And lie will not point with pride at a string of 

 " twenty <iuail, all taken on the wing, in one 

 day"; and not one collector in a hundred 

 would shoot over four or five birds of a kind, 

 and there are not so many "bird cranks" as 

 there are " game gunners." Oh, no, it is the 

 fad that the birds mast be protected, and pro- 

 viding that a certain class has not money to 

 procure the necessary legislation or make 

 themselves feared among those who control 

 the laws and rules of conduct, they must take 

 a back seat and wait their turn. B. 



can Golden Eye {Glaucionetta clangula ameri- 

 cana). I suppose I must give the Latin natne 

 or some scientific crank will take me to task 

 for not writing something that common people 

 cannot read, so I give it. At the same time 

 the local name may be as good as any, so here 

 it is, — "Whistler." Eed-breasted Merganser 

 {Merganser serrator), American Merganser 

 (Merganser americanus), — these last two 

 are both known as Sheldrakes, and at times, 

 to define them, spring and winter Sheldrakes. 

 Long-tailed Duck, "Old Squaw" (Clangula hy- 

 emalis). American Eider, "Black aiid White 

 Sea Duck" (Somateria dresseri). Besides these 

 there were Puffins, Little Auks, Grebes, Loons, 

 Guillemots and others. As yet they are very 

 scarce. Frederic L. Small. 



Provincetowu, Mass. 



Editor O. & O.: 



The birds looked for at this time of year 

 seem to come very slowly. For instance, at 

 this time one year ago the harbor and bay 

 were almost alive with such birds as Ameri- 



Editor of 0. tf; O.: 



Upon first arriving at Guilford College, 

 about two months ago, I was struck with what, 

 to me, was the seeming scarcity of bird life, but 

 I soon located this scarcity as being principally 

 among the aquatic birds, there being no bodies 

 of water of much size within several miles of 

 here, wMnle in Florida where I had spent the 

 past nine years there are lakes and ponds 

 innumerable, furnishing homes and feeding 

 grounds for thousands of water birds; so 

 naturally I was a little disappointed in finding 

 them here in such small numbers. 



At this place, located as it is, midway be- 

 tween the mountains and the coast, with no 

 rivers close, the field could not be expected to 

 furnish much of a variety of birds. However, 

 I have observed Chickadees, Robins, Gros- 

 beaks, Quails, and many other common vaii- 

 eties; Cai-olina Wrens are quite numerous, as 

 are also Turkey Vultures, Red-eyed Vireos, 

 Sparro*vs, and Hairy Woodpeckers; have seen 

 Cooper's Hawks, Waxwing, one Wood Duck 

 (dead), Pileated Woodpecker, and on October 

 13th watched a Bald Eagle as he flew over, 

 going south. This is tlie only Eagle I have 

 seen, and, from what I hear, I suppose they 

 are not very common in this locality. 



Have learned of some Wild Turkeys within 

 a few miles of here; am to investigate it soon. 



T. G. Pearson. 

 Asst. Curator of College Museum, Guilford College, 

 N. C. 



Editor of O. & O.: 



The December issue of the O. & O. lias just 

 received my careful attention, and find it re- 

 plete with customary information and points 

 of interest. 



