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A CURIOSITY. 



On October 20th, 1871, a farmer living in 

 Lake County, Indiana, shot a brant and on 

 picking it up remarked to his companion 

 that it must have " fallen on a snag." Fur- 

 ther examination, however, revealed the 

 fact that the supposed snag, which pro- 

 truded from either side of the breast, was a 

 bone arrow head, 9 inches in length and Y% 

 of an inch in width. The brant had carried 

 this weapon so long that it was as firmly im- 

 bedded in bone and flesh as though nature 

 had intended it as a part of the anatomical 

 structure of the bird. 



Where the arrow passed through the 

 bone, a callous growth tightened about it 

 and the skin was smoothly drawn where 

 the ends were exposed to view. A strange 

 part of the story is, that the bone arrow- 

 head is of Eskimo make, such as those 

 people employ in bringing down birds, 

 and use nowhere outside of the Arctic 

 regions. 



This goes to prove that the bird was at 

 one time a resident of that country. When 

 shot by the Indiana farmer the brant was in 

 fine condition and was the sturdy leader of 

 a flock. 



While the wound was not in a vital part 

 it is likely that if the arrow point had been 

 made of steel or other metal the bird would 

 have died from blood poisoning. 



A FISH DUCK. 



Will you kindly tell 

 ;»:-" me the name of duck I 

 shot awhile ago. It was 

 a female, with greenish 

 black head, which color 

 extended half way down 

 the neck, there changing 

 to pure white on upper 

 part of breast. The 

 ,. lower breast was a sal- 

 •/' mon color being quite 

 ruddy. The back, ex- 

 cepting a little of the 

 part above the wings, 

 and strictly a part of the 

 neck, which was white, 

 was a jet black. On 

 each side of the tail the 

 feathers were gray. The 

 tail and wings were gray 

 with the exception of the 

 tertiary feathers, which 

 were pure white with a single thread of black 

 extending through each feather. The bird 

 weighed 5 pounds, is what is known in our 

 town as " the black and white duck." 



Is either this or the black duck considered 

 edible ? G. E. H., Ware, Mass. 



I referred this matter to Mr. Robert 

 Ridgway, Curator of Ornithology in the 

 National Museum, and he says the bird 

 seems to be a male fish-duck {Merganser 

 americanus). It is not likely it could have 

 been a female, as no female duck ever nor- 

 mally takes those colors. He requests Mr. 

 Holmes to state whether this duck had a 

 long, narrow bill. If so, then it was a fish- 

 duck and is not good to eat. 



V 



y 



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Editor Recreation: I wish to report to 

 you a strange freak of the pewee, or phcebe 

 bird. On a beam in the shed that joins my 

 mill, a phcebe bird is building a lot of nests, 

 13 in number, all joining together, in all 

 stages of construction! Some are almost 

 finished and some just commenced. I see 

 only one bird at work. I have never seen 

 or heard of any such a freak before. The 

 shed is new, having been built 2 years ago. 

 Last summer there was a nest near by in 

 which 2 broods were raised, one in May, 

 and one in July. I thought that uncom- 

 mon. H. M. Gordon, Morrisville, Vt. 



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