460 



RECREA TION. 



dropped as before, the lower bird following 

 it until its wings almost beat against the 

 brush. Surmising now what they were af- 

 ter I rode into the open and around the 

 clump of sage. As I approached the hun- 

 ters flew off to the top of a distant pine, and 

 I heard the warning cluck of a mother 

 grouse who, as I came nearer, skurried for 

 the timber calling her 9 or 10 chicks after 

 her. 



Fine work was it not, dropping sticks into 

 the brush to flush the brood so that his mate 

 could make the capture? 



Grouse shooting, which opened on Au- 

 gust 15th, was not so good as usual owing to 

 a June snow storm and freeze which de- 

 stroyed many of the eggs. J. W. Hulse. 



BARROW'S GOLDENEYE, GLAUCIONETTA 

 ISLANDICA* 



ALLAN BROOKS. 



This is one of the most rare of American 

 ducks, and when found is generally mistaken 

 for the common goldeneye. Except when 

 adult males are compared the 2 species are 

 indistinguishable to an ordinary observer; 

 the principal difference between young males 

 and females being the markings of the wing. 



Males are easily distinguished, however. 

 Barrow's goldeneye has a crescent shaped 

 spot in front of the eyes, peculiar drooping 

 black and white feathers on the scapulars, 

 a smaller bill, and a different shaped head. 

 This last characteristic is most noticeable 

 in the fresh bird, the skull rising sharply 

 from the bill, giving the forehead a bulging 

 appearance. This is seen in less degree in 

 the female. 



This feature also shows at a distance, and 

 when the male is sitting he looks much 

 blacker than the common species. In the 

 adult female the bill is clear orange yellow, 

 iris straw color. In young females the bill 

 is duller, and dusky at the base, the iris pea 

 green. 



Barrow's goldeneye has a more Southerly 

 breeding range, being a common breeder 

 in Southern British Columbia, East of the 

 Cascades. There a pair or 2 are found on 

 almost every mountain lake or pond; also 

 large numbers of non-breedirig birds, as like 

 most Fuliguline ducks they do not breed or 

 acquire adult plumage until 2 years old. 

 , In winter it seems almost exclusively con- 

 fined to the coast, not leaving the salt water 

 until April. By that time the common gold- 

 eneyes are leaving for their breeding haunts 

 in higher latitudes; so in the interior of 

 British Columbia it is rather unusual to see 

 the 2 species together. 



TO KEEP MOTH OUT OF SKINS. 



For many years I have been collecting 

 bird skins and mounting them myself, but 

 have always been troubled with moths, al- 



* See illustration on page 414. 



though using arsenic and creosote as poison. 

 Have also used camphor gum freely, dis- 

 tributed about my cases. 



Can you tell me anything that will keep 

 moths out of such specimens? 



H. C. Hearman, Lansingburg, N. Y. 



ANSWER. 



Dr. W. J. Holland says: 



" Naphthaline crystals destroy mites, and 

 they cannot exist where these are abundant- 

 ly present. Anthrenus and Dermestes may 

 be kept out of collections by naphthaline; 

 but when they have been once introduced 

 they will remain and propagate in spite of 

 the presence of the drug. In order to ex- 

 terminate them various agents are employed. 

 The best is perhaps chloroform, and next to 

 this carbon bisulphide. In buying the latter 

 drug, care should be taken to get the 

 washed and purified article, which is not as 

 malodorous as the common varieties which 

 were formerly sold by druggists. It is, how- 

 ever, highly explosive when mixed in quan- 

 tity with air, and care should be taken not to 

 use it in proximity to a light. It has the ad- 

 vantage of destroying at once the imago, 

 the larva, and perhaps the eggs of museum 

 pests." 



You should first try the naphthaline crys- 

 tals. Fill several small bags made of mos- 

 quito netting, and fasten one in a corner of 

 each box. The tighter the boxes are kept, 

 the more deadly the effect will be. This is 

 the most popular poison now in use among 

 entomologists. 



WOLVES, PIGEONS AND SPARROWS. 



Fort Qu'Appelle, Assiniboia, Canada. 



Editor Recreation: In March, last, 3 

 timber wolves made their appearance at an 

 Indian Camp 70 miles Northeast of Nut 

 lake trading post, about 140 miles North of 

 Qu'Appelle, and killed 2 Indian ponies. The 

 Indians hunted the wolves on snow shoes, 

 shot one and killed another with a set gun 

 over one of the dead ponies. The surviving 

 and largest wolf immediately left for Nut 

 lake, arriving there within 12 hours. That 

 night he killed a 5 year old stallion weigh- 

 ing over 1,200 pounds. On being hunted 

 next day he left there and put in an appear- 

 ance at a cattle ranch 7 miles away. While 

 the cattle were drinking that afternoon, he 

 killed a large cow, about 8 months in calf, 

 disembowelled her, carried the calf 200 yards 

 through the snow and hid it. The next day 

 my informant, Mr. Henry Fisher, got 2 

 shots at the wolf, the 2d at 400 yards hitting 

 him in the heart. I have seen the skin and 

 it is a large and prime one. 



The Indians curiously enough say they 

 would not have been able to kill this wolf, 

 as he was charmed. Their theory is that he 

 was, at the start, flying in the air, and that on 

 touching ground he grew rapidly and turned 

 into a wolf. 



A young half-breed boy shot a passenger 



