lo THE OREGON NATURALIST. 



number of heavily loaded shells, decoys and and presents a more sombre appearence. A 



lunch pail, and start about 4 o'clock a. m. for peculiar tendency to alight at decoys has been 



a short collecting trip. After a short pull mentioned. This is intensified in the spring on 



during which despite the exercise our ears and account of the birds being anxious to form into 



toes tingle with the cold, for the sun is not up flocks for the migration. This feeling is so 



yet, although a faint reddish tinge is noticeable, strong that the birds will frequently alight to 



where ouly a^short time ago stretched the long pieces of wood or "debris" floating upon the 



gray herald of the approaching morn, we arrive surface. 



at a jutting point where tha wind blows from (To be concluded.) 



"off shore" and proceed to "set" the de. - 



coys within easy shotting distance of the point POTATO BUG AND HESSIAN FLY. 



and going ashore coicial ourselves behind 



some of the large bouldei-s on Jie shore. Now Thirty-five years ago the worst enemy to the 

 comes a short wait and then - whive - splash! potato crop in the eastern part of the United 

 What was that ? Oh yes there he is right in a- States was a species of beetle having dark striped 

 mong the decoys; no! yes! there are two - three! wing covers, elongated form, and narrow thorax. 

 No time to count any farther for your trusty but in 1861 a far more destructive insect, class- 

 old Parker has somehow gotten to your shoulder ified long before as Djrypkira decemlineata, 

 and then you press the trigger as your friend's made its first great onslaught ujon the cul- 

 gun speaks close to your ear, and out there on tivated potato. 



the water, in their last struggle lie a male and The insect had previou-;ly fed mostly or en- 

 female, (130) Merganser leviator (637) Red- tirely upon various S|)ecies of the Solanum in- 

 breasted Merganser: Shelldrake; and picking digenous to the West but it soon began its 

 them up we examine them. The first ihmg progress eastward, traveling at the rate of sixty 

 that strikes us is the long bill, which looks for miles a year. It would be useless to enlarge 

 the world as if it were supplied wiih a row of upon the destructiveness of this insect, but 

 teeth. Then the head with its long scraggily although its ravages and its appearance are 

 plumes, the short tail and relatively short wings, known to every one, its metamorphoses may 

 all make an impression at once, and togethe' not be understood by all. 



with the pure whiteness of the belly and vari The eggs are deposited on die under side of 



gated breast of the male, make you involuntari- the leaves in clusters of from ten to twenty five, 



ly exclaim "A Beauty!" These birds are much each female laying from seven to twelve hundred 



esteemed by the fisher folk for eating, and eggs. From these eggs the larvae soon hatch 



the "sea fowl stews" of Cape Cod have become out, and after feeding upon the plants for some 



almost proverbial, certain however it is, that the eighteen or twenty days hide them selves in the 



flesh of Merganser Leviator is not to be det.- earth, where they remain as pupae for ten or 



pised by a hungry stomach. twelve days, then emerge as fully developed 



The nostrils are rather nearer the beetles, to begin again the work of destruction 



base of the bill than in most of the with all the vigor of renewed youth, and to 



species hitherto mentioned. The head and produce fresh generations. 



neck all around are a beautiful tlark green; The head of the larva is black, there is a 



the back quite dark; the breast a delightful ring of black upon the first segment of its bo.ly 



brownish red, streaked with dusky, and the and each of its sides is ornamented l)y two 



whole under parts with a long pointed occiint. I rows of black dots upon a reddish brown ground, 



crest is present in both sexes and when erected. The perfect insect is a shortened oval in 



give the bird a most ferocious appearance, shape, yellowish, or orange brown, in color. 



The female is much smaller than the male and has upon its wing covers the ten black 



