14 



walked he could take but a few steps without starting 

 up a wood cock. About a week later he was on the 

 island again but could not find any of them. The 

 same fog that made it unsafe for him to leave the 

 island had detained the birds also. 



The preceding cases are clearly traceable to the 

 influence of the weather. Others depend rather upon 

 local abundance of food. 



October 29th, 1895, John R. Schacht, whose father 

 is engaged in the fish business in Erie, Pa., wrote me 

 as follows: — "To-day a boat came in with some 

 hundred pin tail ducks which were caught in the gill 

 nets and drowned. The nets are only five feet deep and 

 rest on the bottom in nineteen fathoms of water. It 

 seems the ducks dive down after the fish and thus get 

 caught in the nets and drowned, 



"The fishermen claim that they have caught as 

 high as two hundred ducks in their nets which were in 

 only fourteen fathoms of water. About this week and 

 next is the time when such great numbers get caught 

 and drowned. 



"Thought I would mention the above as it seemed 

 very remarkable that these birds dove to such great 

 depths. 



"The ducks are all of this one species, — pintail." 



In his next letter he wrote: — "Since writing you 

 about the pintails being caught in the deep water fish 

 nets, I have inquired and found out that in the fall of 

 1893 one tug in one day brought in between 1000 and 

 1500 ducks. Also have found that they have caught 

 them in thirty fathoms of water." 



In my paper on "The White-headed Eagle in 

 Northern Ohio," I mentioned the fact that about 

 "seventy-five eagles had been seen at one time feeding on 

 the fish which had been caught under the ice in seines 

 and rejected by the fishermen. 



Eave swallows, after the young are full-fledged, 

 may sometimes be seen resting in great numbers on the 



