THE OOLOGIST 



39 



At break of day I was in the blind 

 and in less than two hours had twen- 

 ty-one ducks (Red-breasted Mergan- 

 sers, Bufflehead, Teal and Scaup) al- 

 most all males, strung out along shore. 

 The bay was full of ducks and gulls, 

 barely able to move against the wind, 

 but so late in the season there was 

 not much of a variety of ducks. 



I started across the •'Peninsula" on 

 the way bagging a Lesser Yellow- 

 legs. Small birds were plentiful, es- 

 pecially the Black-throated Green 

 Warblers, but so hard was the wind 

 that they were mostly low in the 

 bushes or on the ground. On the out- 

 side I found enormous breakers thun- 

 dering in and so hard did it blow that 

 there was no life on the beach. Get- 

 ting back to the bay I lay in ambush 

 at the mouth of a large pond. Large 

 flocks of gulls and numbers of ducks 

 were about. A pair of Teal came 

 along and stayed; also a Greater Yel- 

 low-legs. With a flock of Bonaparte 

 Gulls I noticed a smaller bird and as 

 they blew past I knocked down an Up- 

 land Plover, a bird entirely out of 

 place on the "Peninsula." A belated 

 bunch of five Canada Geese passed 

 just out of range, barely able to move. 



After dinner I stayed near the de- 

 coys, as walking was almost impos- 

 sible, and frequent hard showers pass- 

 ed. Flocks of Bonaparte Gulls and a 

 few Common Tern were being blown 

 about in every direction. The Her- 

 ring Gulls were wilder and kept far- 

 ther away. Three adult Caspian Terns 

 were about, for awhile, but didn't get 

 close enough for a shot, saw several 

 gulls that looked strange to me, so 

 laid for them and soon downed one at 

 long range. 



Leaving my gun in the blind I jump- 

 ed into a light skift and soon reached 

 the gull— a Ring-bill. By the time I 

 reached my gull I was getting away 

 from the shelter of the shore and into 



the wind. When I started back I found 

 that I could hold my own only by the 

 greatest exertion. I had to watch 

 sharp to ride safely over the waves 

 that had become alarmingly large, and 

 when I didn't hit one just right, I got 

 drenched with spray and shipped wat- 

 er. 



Things looked fine for a trip across 

 the little bay and over onto the oppo- 

 site shore where the waves were 

 smashing in a nasty way. However I 

 found that by the hardest kind of row- 

 ing I could hold my own so I began 

 edging over farther into the bay, and 

 soon got sheltered under the shore 

 some distance from where I started. 

 When I landed, my hands were so 

 cramped I could hardly let loose of the 

 oars. The fellows at the house boat 

 were scared and run in a large dou- 

 ble-oared boat, thinking I would cap- 

 size or be blown across. Since then I 

 have been a little bit particular what 

 kind of a craft I embark in in a storm. 



The fcllowing day the storm had 

 greatly abated and I crossed the main 

 bay to Erie with some fellows in a 

 large sail boat. On the way I saw an 

 adult Black Tern, a scarce thing in 

 this region, but was too busy to try 

 a shot, as it was still very rough in the 

 channel. 



Thus ended a stormy, but very en- 

 joyable outing. 



R. B. Simpson. 



A Flight of Swans. 



March 20th a large flock of Swans 

 estimated at fully one hundred, alight- 

 ed in the Allegheny River near here. 



Parties who saw them say the river 

 appeared to be full of Swans. They 

 were fired upon but were very w^ild, 

 and only one was taken. This was a 

 fine male and was sent in here to War- 

 ren to be mounted. 



Every spring in March a large flock 



