v " i ,,m : ; xx | General Nott 579 



Greater Snow Goose {Chen hyperboreus nivalis) in Arkansas. — On 

 March 28, 1913, a farmer living three miles west of this city Bhol an adult 

 male Greater Snow Goose in his field. The bird was seen feeding all day 

 but no others of its species wire observed near. I examined it carefully in 

 the flesh and found it to !><■ in perfect plumage. Dr. C. H. Luther of this 

 city, who made it up into a skin, informed me that the specimen was in good 

 condition and that he found only fresh wounds on the body. — Albert 

 l.\ >, FayeltevilU, Arkansas. 



Feeding Wild Ducks on Sodus Bay, N. Y. — Sodus Bay, one of the 

 largest bays on the southern shore of Lake Ontario, was the scene of an 

 interesting experiment, La the feeding <>f wild ducks during the months of 

 February and March, 1913. The hay, which is a large irregularly shaped 

 body of water, containing several islands, is frequented in the spring and 

 fall by large numbers of ducks. The winter was unusually mild up to the 

 first of February, and many ducks remained on a large area of the bay which 

 was open, and where they apparently found plenty of food. About 

 February 1 the weather turned suddenly cold, with heavy snow storms and 

 high winds. This caused the bay to freeze entirely over, preventing the 

 ducks from reaching there feeding grounds. On February 4 the weather 

 was very stormy, and several thousand ducks were noted in places still re- 

 maining open. On February 5 Mr. Claude 'J'. DeVille, the state game 

 protector at Sodus Point, noted that the ducks were flying to places kept 

 open by men harvesting ice. The ducks were very fearless and were appar- 

 ently Buffering from lack of food. On the succeeding day, February 6, he 

 obtained a quantity of wheat, and tried feeding the ducks. The grain was 

 readily eaten and he immediately wrote the New York State Conservation 

 Commission, notifying them of the presence of the ducks and the necessity 

 of relief measures. The Commission promptly responded, and on February 

 10, Mr. DeVille received word to purchase grain and feed the ducks. He 

 firsl tried feeding by throwing the grain in the water, but the ducks were so 

 weak that they apparently had difficulty in reaching bottom in sixteen feet 

 of water. This fact alone shows the extremes to which the ducks were 

 reduced, as they were mainly Bluebills, Redheads and Canvasbacks, 

 all of which feed at considerable depths. He then tried placing the grain 

 on the ice on a place scraped clear of snow near the edge of the open water. 

 This proved successful, as the ducks immediately came out on the ice, 

 feeding like barnyard fowls. At one place near where men employed by 

 the Northern Central Railway Co. were harvesting ice, there were often six 

 or seven hundred ducks feeding atone time. The ducks were fed in this 

 manner at all the places which remained open, which varied from three 

 Or four to six or eight. They were fed at least once and often twice e;ich 



day, and during the period from February 10 to March 10, when the 

 feeding was discontinued, thirty-eight bushels of wheat were fed. 



The ducks soon learned to look for the grain and upon seeing Mr. DeVille 



starting out on the ice, would fly to the places where the grain was placed. 



