March, 1922.! 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



59 



man and his knowledge of the birds of his native 

 province was quite exceptional. He had the 

 distinction of taking the last living Labrador 

 Duck, a female which he shot at Sheep Island in 

 Grandmanan fifty-one years ago. This bird he 

 sent to Geo. A. Boardman, of Calais, Maine, who 

 forwarded it to the Smithsonian Institute, Wash- 

 ington, D.C. Incidentally, Mr. Cheney never 

 received a cent for his prize. Eider Ducks used 

 to nest in numbers then at Grandmanan where 

 only a few scattered pairs today breed and rear 

 their young. Mr. Cheney discovered many 

 nests of these birds and frequently placed the 

 eggs under tame ducks and hens. It is a curious 

 fact that Eider Ducks hatched out under hens 

 became blind when about three weeks old. A 

 film formed over their eyes which gradually 

 destroyed their sight. These blind duckHngs 

 would invariably die. If, however, the Eiders 

 were hatched out under tame ducks, they never 

 became victims of this blindness. One spring Mr. 

 Cheney discovered an Eider's nest containing six 

 eggs. These he placed under a tame duck and 

 all the eggs hatched. Now the problem was 

 what to feed the ducklings. Mr. Cheney was, 

 however, equal to the occasion. By mixing 

 cornmeal and water he made a thin gruel and, with 

 the addition of sand fleas the birds learned to 

 eat the meal. In picking out the live fleas they 

 would of course get some of the meal and became 

 accustomed to the taste of it. After a time they 

 learned to like the meal and greedily ate it with- 

 out the addition of the fleas. When the young 

 ducks grew larger, their owner used to take them 

 to a brook and turn over stones in order that the 

 Eiders could catch the small eels and other tiny 

 fish. These young ducks would waddle and swim 

 along behind their master until their appetites 

 were surfeited. They never went far from their 

 pen near the house alone, and were a source of 

 great delight to the many visitors who came to 

 Cheney's Island, among whom were many noted 

 ornithologists of the day. Each night this 

 interesting family of young Eiders was shut up in 

 its pen. Among the visitors to Grandmanan 

 there came a man and his wife from Calais, Maine. 

 The morning after the departure of these tourists 

 Mr. Cheney missed his pets and nothing was heard 

 of them for a month. One day a friend of Mr. 

 Cheney's had occasion to go to Calais and while 

 there heard of a flock of young "Sea Ducks" a 

 woman had in the town. Upon investigation, he 

 discovered they were the same birds which had 

 been stolen from Mr. Cheney. In the night this 

 friend of Mr. Cheney's opened the pen where the 

 ducks were confined and what was their owner's 

 surprise and delight upon opening his back, door 



the following morning to find the birds huddled 

 together upon the stoop. They waddled about 

 him and flapped their wings and talked to him 

 in their accustomed way, showing every indication 

 of delight at getting back home again. From 

 Cheney's Island to Calais is approximately fifty 

 miles, yet these young ducks came safely back in a 

 very short time after being given their liberty, 

 which is only another instance of how wild birds 

 will yield to kindness and protection. 



H. A. P. Smith, 



Digby, N.S. 



A CORRECTION. 

 Under the heading of BIG GAME in my 

 paper on the "Mammals of Islay, Alberta," 

 Canadian Field-Naturalist, Vol. XXXV, No. 6, 

 p. Ill, there appears a confusion of terms regard- 

 ing the deer of the west. Since considerable time 

 has elapsed since the writing of this paper, I 

 cannot recall how or why I came to use such 

 terminology. Anyway, I wish to redeem myself. 

 The Mule Deer, Black-tail and Jumping Deer, 

 contrary to the impression conveyed by my 

 writing, are synonymous terms. A few lines 

 farther down the Jumping Deer is more explicitly 

 singled out — an obvious error — for what is meant 

 here is the Northern Virginian Deer or White- 

 tailed Deer. The same is true of the reference 

 to the Jumping Deer at Laurier Lake on page 104. 

 There are but two species of deer in Alberta, the 

 White-tail and the Mule Deer. 



T. Dewey Soper. 



AN AQUATIC HABIT OF THE 

 GREAT BLUE HERON 



Mr. Lloyd's account of pigeons alighting in 

 deep wat?r recalls a similar occurrence on the 

 part of the Great Blue Heron. Ardea herodias. 

 noted on the Rideau Lakes, Ontario, by myself 

 and D. Blakeley. 



We were camping on the shore of Big Island. 

 July 11, 1918. Behind us, in the centre of the 

 island was a large heronry, whilst passing over 

 and continuing across the wide expanse of the 

 lake on their way to feeding grounds was a con- 

 tinuous stream of herons. On several occasions 

 whilst watching the birds departing we saw them 

 drop to the lake level, hesitate a moment and 

 then drop softly into the water. They remained 

 perhaps half a minute there and then, with an 

 easy flap of wings rose and continued their way. 

 The distance was too great to see what they did 

 even with 8X prismatic binoculars. There was 

 a movement of the neck and head that may have 



