402 Wright, Rare Wild Ducks Wintering at Boston, Mass. [oct. 



to nearly the end of December, when all were gone from the pond 

 and one hundred and seventy-five were counted on Chestnut Hill 

 Reservoir on December 31. There had been but ten on the reser- 

 voir on December 21, while the large flock still remained on Jamaica 

 Pond. The Black Ducks make this change quite regularly season 

 by season when Jamaica Pond freezes up, but they always choose 

 the pond in preference to the reservoir when they arrive in the 

 autumn and remain on the pond as long as it is open. Their 

 return to sit on the ice some hours of the day, January 19," 20, and 

 22, as two independent observers inform me that they did, indi- 

 cates their liking for the pond. This preference is doubtless 

 strenghtened by their sharing in the feeding of the park Mallards 

 when they are associated with these in the fall and spring. Mr. 

 J. H. Kelley, who cares for the park ducks, informs me that many 

 of the Black Ducks come in shore with the Mallards for the corn 

 which he scatters. It should be stated also that measures have 

 been employed the present winter to keep all water-fowl off the 

 waters of Chestnut Hill Reservoir under the direction of the 

 Water Commissioners, who entertain the idea that the waters are 

 polluted by the presence of the birds and that germs of disease may 

 be conveyed by the gulls coming up from the sewage-contaminated 

 waters of the harbor and bathing in the reservoir. So, acting upon 

 this theory, a plan of firing blank cartridges, when they are gather- 

 ing, was conceived and put in practice as a means of dislodging and 

 deterring them. This expedient, closely followed up, has been 

 efficacious. For I have been again and again to the reservoir 

 this winter to find only, perhaps, two or a half-dozen American 

 Mergansers and as many Herring Gulls, or none at all. In pre- 

 vious winters there have often been present from twenty to thirty 

 mergansers, sometimes hundreds of gulls, including many Great 

 Black-backed Gulls, and a permanent flock of Black Ducks, through- 

 out the da}', numbering a hundred or more, usually accompanied, 

 whether on the ice or on the water, by severals Mallards. Such 

 a company of water-fowl has been entirely absent the present 

 winter, and the Black Ducks have had to seek a refuge elsewhere. 

 This refuge was often Fresh Pond. On February 20, Mr. W. C. 

 Levey informs me, the flock numbering one hundred and seventy- 

 five was seen by him there, accompanied by three Mallards, two 



