44 



NATURAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



iog. Wilson's Petrel. Oceanites oceanicus. Very rare straggler. 

 J. L. Davison reports a specimen taken October, 1875, by a sportsman 

 while shooting Plover near Lockport. 



Order STEGANOPODES. Toti-palmate Swimmers. 



Family PH.ffiTHONTID/E.- -Tropic Birds. 



112. Yellow-billed Tropic Bird. Phcethon flavirostris. A bird of 

 the Tropics and rare in the Gulf States. Rev. J. H. Langille reports 

 that a young male of this species was brought to him alive at Knowles- 

 ville, Orleans Co., in September, 1878. Jt was found in a field after 

 a heavy storm from the southwest. 



Order ANSERES. Lamellirostral Swimmers. 



Family ANATID^E. — Ducks, Geese and Swans. 



129. American Merganser. Merganser americanus. Migrant. Most 

 frequently seen in spring. 



130. Red-breasted Merganser. Merganser serrator. Migrant, not 

 as common as last. 



131. Hooded Merganser. Lophodytes cuccullatus. Migrant. Most 

 common on the lake in spring. 



132. Mallard. Anas boschas. Migrant. Occurring in small scat- 

 tered flocks or most commonly in detached couples. 



133. Black Duck. Anas obscura. Common migrant on inland 

 streams; coming in large flocks. Breeds in suitable places. 



137. Baldpate. Anas americana. Migrant. Occurring in small 

 flocks. 



139. Green-winged Teal. Anas carolincnsis. Migrant. Occur- 

 ring in small flocks and detached couples, chiefly on secluded streams. 



140. Blue-winged Teal. Anas discors. Migrant, habits like last. 



142. Shoveller. Spatula clypeata. Occasional migrant. One shot 

 at Chili, April 14, 1894. 



143. Pintail. Dafila acuta. Migrant, common. 



144. Wood Duck. Aix sponsa. Migrates in isolated couples; a 

 few staying to breed in suitable localities. 



146. Redhead. Aythya americana. Common migrant on the Lakes. 

 Have often seen them in the Rochester markets, brought in from Lake 

 Ontario. Rare inland. 



147. Canvas-back. Aythya vallisneria. Rare migrant. 



148. American Scaup Duck. Aythya marila nearctica. Migrant. 



149. Lesser Scaup Duck. Aythya affinis. Migrant. May possi- 

 bly breed as I have found them here in May. 



150. Ring-necked Duck. Aythya collaris. Migrant. Common on 

 Lake Ontario. 



151. American Golden-eye. Glaucionetta clangula. Rare migrant. 

 One taken at Chil, in October, 1893. 



153. Bufflehead. Charitonetta albeola. Migrant. Seen in couples. 



154. Old-squaw. Clangulu hyemalis. Migrant, chiefly confined to 

 the lake. 



167. Ruddy Duck. Erismatura\rublda. Rare migrant. One shot 

 in April, 1891, at Chili, Monroe Co. 



172. Canada Goose. Brania canadensis. Common migrant. 

 [to be continued.] 



A Fasting Spider. 



I have in captivity, a. spider that 

 has not eaten anything for over a 

 hundred days. It is just a com- 

 mon little house spider, and was 

 placed in a glass globe on July 2d 

 where he at once spun himself a 

 web. The next day I dropped in 

 a dead fly, but he refused to par- 

 take; thinking he preferred living 

 victims, I put in two live flies, but 

 he refused them also. 



A few days later I put a few 

 drops of water in the globe, a drop 

 of which hung in the web to which 

 he immediately ascended and suck- 

 ed it nearly all up. The two flies 

 died, and all are still laying in the 

 globe untouched. I have put 

 nothing in the globe since, but Mr. 

 Spider is just as lively as ever. 



I do not know much about spi- 

 ders, and for all I know this fast- 

 ing business may be nothing unus- 

 ual, but I would like to know what 

 the spider subsists on. 



Morris Rice, 

 Kinloch, Mo. 



Oct. 14th, 1895. 



Wild Rice. 



Few know more of the reed of 

 our mud-flats than that it furnishes 

 the food on which fattens for the 

 epicure the reed-bird of autumn 

 dinner tables — the bobolink of oth- 

 er seasons. But as wild rice — Zi- 

 zania aquatica of science — it has 

 played no mean part in the service 

 of man. It was the staple food of 

 the Indians that formerly inhabited 

 Northern Wisconsin and Minneso- 

 ta, where the plant abounds on the 

 margin of lakes. Dr. Elliot Coues 

 says that it is still the chief re- 

 course of the Objibway Indians on 

 the reservations of Minnesota. 

 They not only gather it for their 

 own use, but for the purpose of 

 trade. A common name is Indian 

 rice, and the lakes along which the 

 plants abound are known as rice 

 lakes. Whole Indian villages will 

 be tenantless in autumn, the inhab- 

 itants having gone "ricing," as the 

 harvesting is termed. The Indians 

 push their canoes into masses of 

 rice, bend the heads of rice over a 

 crotched stick, and thrash the grain 

 into the bottom of the boat. — Inde- 

 pendent. 



