404 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Nov. 31, 1896. 
day. A male soutb-southerly was shot at in the water 
by a percussion gun, and after f scaping the shot by div- 
ing commenced his flight. When about 40yd8. from the 
boat he had acquired an elevation of a foot or more from 
the surface. A second percussion gun was discharged 
and he dived from the wing at the flash, and though the 
spot of entrance was covered by the shot soon rose un- 
harmed and flew. 
"Canvasbacks, when wounded on the streams near the 
bay, instantly direct their course for it, and there nestle 
among the grass on the shores till cured or destroyed by 
eagles, hawks, gulls, foxes, or other vermin, that are 
constantly on the search. If a dead canvasback be not 
soon secured it becomes a prey to the gulls, which rarely 
touch any other kind. I have seen severe contests take 
place between crippled canvasbacks and gulls; and 
although a pounce or two generally prevents further 
resistance, sometimes they are driven off. If the bird is 
remarkably savory the gull makes such a noise that others 
are soon collected, when possession is determined by 
courage or strength. 
"Another mode of taking ducks consists in placing gill- 
ing nets under water on the feeding grounds, and when 
they dive for food their head and wings become entangled 
in the meshes and they are drowned. This plan, though 
successful at first, soon drives the bird from these places, 
and in some cases a few applications have entirely pre- 
vented their return for some weeks. Paddling upor. 
them in the night or day produces the same effect, and 
although practiced to some extent on Bush River is 
highly disapproved of by persons shooting from points. 
For the last three years a man has been occupied on this 
stream with a gun of great size, fixed on a swivel in a 
boat, and the destruction of game on their feeding flats 
has been immense; but so unpopular is the plan that 
many schemes have been privately proposed of destroy- 
ing his boat and gun, and he has been fired at with balls 
so often that his expeditions are at present confined to 
the night. Sailing with a Stiff breeze upon the geese and 
swans, or throwing rifle balls from the shore into their 
beds, is sometimes successful. 
"Moonlight shooting has not been a general practice, 
but as these birds are in motion during light nights they 
could readily be brought within range by 'honking' 
them when flying. This sound is very perfectly imitated 
at Egg Harbor, and I have seen geese drawn at a right 
angle from their course by this note. They can indeed 
be made to hover over the spot, and if a captive bird was 
employed the success would become certain. 
"Notwithstanding the apparent facilities that are 
offered of success, the amusement of duck shooting is 
probably one of the most exposing to cold and wet, and 
those who undertake its enjoyment without a courage 
'screwed to the sticking point' will soon discover that 'to 
one good a thousand ills oppose.' It is indeed no parlor 
sport, for after creeping through mud and mire often for 
hundreds of yards, to be at last disappointed, and stand 
exposed on points to the 'pelting rain or more than freez- 
ing cold' for hours, without even the promise of a shot, 
would try the patience of even Franklin's 'glorious nib- 
bler.' It is, however, replete with ejccitement and 
charm, and to one who can enter on the pleasure with a 
system formed for polar cold and a spirit to endure 'the 
weary toil of many a stormy day' it will yield a harvest 
of health and delight that the 'roamer of the woods' can 
rarely enjoy." 
Although this far-famed bird was named by its dis- 
coverer after the plant Valisneria amerieana, on which 
it partially feeds when on fresh water, its subsistence is 
by no means dependent upon that species, which indeed 
is not extensively distributed, but is chiefly derived from 
the grass wrack or eel grass. Zoatera marina, which is 
very abundant on the shallows and flats along the whole 
sea coast. Its flesh seems to me not generally much 
superior to that of the pochani or redhead, which often 
mingles in the same flocks, and both species are very 
frequently promiscuously sold in the markets as canvas- 
backs. 
In, the plate are represented two males and a female. 
In the background is "a view of Baltimore, which I have 
had great pleasure in introducing on account of the 
hospitality which I have there experienced, and the 
generosity of its inhabitants, who, on the occasion of a 
quantity of my plates having been destroyed by the mob 
during an outourst of political feeling, indemnified me 
for the loss. 
AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION. 
The fourteenth congress of the American Ornitholo- 
gists' Union convened in Cambridge, Mass. , Nov. 9, and 
continued until Thursday, the 13bh. 
The evening or business session was held at the resi- 
dence of Mr. Charles F. Batchelder, the public meetings, 
commencing Tuesday, Nov. 10, being in the Nash lecture 
room of the University Museum, 
The active members present were: Dr. J. A. Allen, Dr. 
Jonathan Dwight, Jr. , Frank M Chapman and William 
Dutcher, of New York city; Dr. A. P. Chadbournp, 
Charles B. Cory and H. A. Purdie, of Boston; C. F. 
Batchelder, William Brewster and Montague Chamber- 
lain, of Cambridge; Euthven Deane, of Chicago; Drs. 
Elliott Coues and C. Hart Merriam, of Washington; and 
John H. Sage, of Portland, Conn. 
The associate members present during the sessions were: 
Mrs. Olive Thorne Miller, Miss Florence A. Merriam, Migs 
Helen A. Ball, Miss Harriet E, Clarke, Louis Agassiz 
Fufrtes, George H. Mackay, G, S. Miller, Jr., Outram 
Bangs, Judge John N. Clark, O. W. Knight, Rev. H. K. 
Job, Dr. William C. Rives. F. B. Spaulding, William H. 
Phelps, J. D. Somborger, Edward A. Preble, Prof. F. E. 
L. Beal, Bradford Torrey. F. Hi^ Kennard, Edward H. For- 
bush, Arthur C. Bent, \ ernon Bailey, H. D. Eastman, 
Reginald H. Howe, Jr., George L. Toppan, Charles E. 
Ingalls, Joseph S. Bigelow, Jr., C. E. Bailey, John F. 
Ferry, F. Apthorp Foster, John M. Nichols, Philip J. Mc- 
Cook, Charles T. Carruth, Dr. Louis B, Bishop, Frank H. 
Hitchcock, W. W. Brown, Jr., Ralph Hoffmann. 
Willi»m Brewster, of Cambridge, was elected president; 
Dr. C. Hart Merriam and Robert Ridgway, of Washing- 
ton, vice presidents; John H. Sage, of Portland, Conn., 
secretary; William Dutcher, of New York, treasurer; 
Charles F. Batchelder, Maj .Chas. Bend ire, Frank M. 
Chapman, Chas. B, Cory, Drs. Jonathan Dwight, Jr., A. 
K. Fisher and L, Stejneger, members of the council. 
Dr. Walter Faxon, of the Museum of Comparative 
Zoology, Cambridge, was iinanimously elected aji active 
member of the Union. Seventy-seven associate members 
were elected. 
Mr. Wm, Dutcher, chairman of the Committee on Pro- 
tection of North American Birds, read an interesting 
and most valuable report of the work done by his com- 
mittee during the past year. This report will be published 
in The Auk, the official organ of the Union, and reprinted 
as a separate pamphlet. 
The Union was honored during its entire session by the 
presence of Miss Maria R. Audubon, granddaughter of 
the renowned naturalist. In her behalf Dr. Elliott Coues 
laid before the Union some recently discovered manu- 
script journals of John James Audubon, including the 
one giving an account of his famous trip up the Missouri 
River. A vote of thanks was tendered Miss Audubon for 
her kindness in allowing the manuscripts to be exhibited. 
Mr. Abbott H. Tbayer's open-air talk, demonstrating 
his theory of the principles of protective coloration, was 
one of the features jf the meeting. He was given a vote 
of thanks. 
Resolutions were passed thanking Prof. Geo. L. Good- 
ale and the Geological Department of Harvard University 
for the use of their respective lecture rooms for a meeting 
place of the Union, and thanking the Nuttall Ornithologi- 
cal Qlub for the cordial welcome and generous hospitality 
extended to the visiting members. 
There was a good attendance of members and visitors. 
It was voted to hold the next annual meeting in New 
York city, commencing Nov. 8, 1897. 
The following is a list of the papers read at the ses- 
sions: 
1 Original Manuscript Journals of John James Audubon. (On be- 
half of Miss M. R. Audubon.) Elliott Coues. 
3. Ornithological Publications, Present and Prospective. Elliott 
00U6S 
3. The FringilUdm of Dodge County, Wisconsin. Will Edwin 
Snyder. 
4. An Ornithological Tour in Tucatan and Mexico. Illustrated with 
lant«rn slides. Frant M. Chapman. 
5. Some New England Birds' Neats. Illustrated with lantern Slides 
from original photographs. William Brewster. 
6. The Philadelphia Vireo (Fireo philadelpMcua). Jonathan 
Dwight, Jr. 
7. The Moult of the Song Sparrow (Melospiza fasciata) and of the 
Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus). Jonathan Dwieht, Jr. 
8. Notes on the Black Rail (^Forzana jamaicerLSis) in Southern Con- 
necticut. John N. Clark. 
9. Exhibition of Drawings of Birds, from Life. Louis Agassiz 
Fuertes. 
10. Notes on the birds of Oregon. 0. Hart Merriam. 
11. A Demonstration of the Principles of Protective Coloration. 
Abbott H. Thayer. 
13. Some Notes on the Nesting Habits of the White-tailed Kite 
CElaniLs leucurus). With exhibition of eggs. Chester Barlow. 
18. Two Curious Birds' Nesta. William Brewster, 
14. A Series of Redpolls. William Brewster. 
15. On the Terns of Penikese Island, Massachusetts. George H. 
Mackay. 
16. On the Terns of Muskeget Island, Massachusetts. George H. 
Mackay. 
Adirondack Beavers. 
When the law was passed by the last Legislature to pro- 
tect the beavers remaining in the Adirondacks, many con- 
sidered that the time had gone by when any beavers were 
to be found alive requiring protection. That the theory 
was erroneous was shown yesterday. Hon. Jos. W. Rus- 
sell, of the Saranac Iron Association, has forwarded to the 
Fisheries, Game and Forest Commission a branch of a tree 
which unmistakably shows that beavers have been at 
work upon it. Colonel Fox, superintendent of State forests, 
received the branch yesterday, and found that the indus- 
trious little animals had peeled the bark from the stick 
and trimmed off with their teeth all the little branches. 
The limb was found, a part of a dam built by beavers, in 
Gross Pond, Township 20, in Franklin county, near the 
Adirondack hatchery and the Saranac Inn. — Albany 
Arffus, Nov, 10, 
Opossum in Niagara County. 
LoCKPORT, N. Y., Nov. 8. — A few nights ago J. S. Hol- 
lenbeck, of the town of Royalton, a few miles east of 
this city, was awakened by the barking of his dog. 
Thinking that some one was trying to carry off a few 
hundred barrels of his apples, Mr. HoUenbeck went out 
in the orchard and found that his dog (which Mr. HoUen- 
beck claims to be the best coon dog in Niagara county) 
had ■ caught an animal which he at first thought was a 
coon; but found was an opossum. Mr. HoUenbeck 
brought it to me yesterday still alive, and although he 
has had it since Wednesday night it has not eaten any- 
thing. He thinks that the dog must have hurt its throat. 
Mr. HoUenbeck thinks it is an old animal, but I think it 
is a young of this year, as it weighed only about 81bs. 
In color it is silver gray, much lighter than a coon. 
This is the first occurrence of this species in Niagara 
county that I have any record of. Is it not unusually far 
north? J. L. Davison. 
Buffalo at Van Courtland Park. 
Twenty-five buffalo from the herd of the late Austin 
Corbin were shipped from Blue Mountain Park, N. H,, 
Nov. 15, to Van Courtland Park, in the upper part 
of the city of New York. In view of the scanty feed 
within the inclosure 'constructed for them it was deemed 
unwise to ship more at this time, but there is a possibility 
of fencing in additional land north of the present in- 
closure, in which case more buffalo will probably be 
brought on. 
Dark- Colored Rattlesnakes. 
Pbovidbnob, R. I. — Having seen the melanotic variety 
of our rattlesnake in Intervale, N. H. , last September, I am 
interested to obtain more particulars regarding the dark- 
colored ones Aztec observed in the mountains near San 
Luis Potosi. Have any of your correspondents ever seen 
other dark varieties of rattlers elsewhere? No American 
author has noticed them apparently. A. S. Packard. 
A Snake in a Grouse* 
Rutland, Yi,.— Editor Forest and Stream: Dr. C. A, 
Gale, of this city, on Oct. 17 dressed a ruffed grouse that 
was shot Oct, 13 that contained in its crop and gizzard a 
green snake fully 14in. long. About 2in. of the head end 
was in the gizzard. The rest was in the crop and the tail 
was still wiggling. The Doctor is preserving the snake 
and gizzard in alcohol. Dalg. 
Deer and I^ilypads. 
We have several communioatiolas on this subject, which 
will be given next week. 
IN THE CASCADES.— IV. 
The Waldo Lake Country. 
It was late when we turned out Tuesday morning. All 
except Christy were more or less tired from the previous 
day's exertions, and as for myself I was pretty weU. 
knocked out. Physically Christy is a most remarkable 
man; in fact about the toughest, hardiest man I ever 
went with into the mountains. Mears insists that he is 
just as tough intellectually, and a whole circus under one 
tent, including acrobats and trick mules. But Mears is 
prejudiced. Christy seems to delight in physical exertions 
that would kill anybody else. If there is anything in the 
doctrine of transmigration of souls Christy may at some 
time in the future find himself bell-wether in a flock of 
mountain goats. 
I believe that Mead was about hors de combat also, but 
he prides himself on his endurance and wouldn't give in. 
He is nearly as obstinate as Christy. 
Being somewhat the oldest and fattest of the crowd, I 
claimed the privilege of looking after the camp and pro- 
viding the fish. The fact that we had caught enough trout 
the previous night to last the camp for two days inclined 
the boys to the belief that I intended to put in the day 
sleeping, and I guess they were about right. However, 
the boys were generous and made no objection. The 
fact of the matter was that I had fully made up my mind 
that the country was entirely too rough for fat men to 
hunt in and that I wouldn't hunt unless I had to. 
The boys struck out, but returned early empty handed. 
They ail reported plenty of sign. Christy declared that 
in all his long and varied hunting experience in this 
country and British Columbia he had never seen more, 
but the dryness and roughness made it next to impossible 
to approach game. Bear tracks were innumerable and 
of all sizes. 
At several places we encountered one in particular as 
large as the crown of an ordinary man's hat and with 
toe nail marks that looked decidedly grizzlyish. It is 
claimed and generally believed that there are no grizzlies 
in the Cascades. No reason has been given, to my knowl- 
edge, except that it is too wet a country. But Mr. Fox, 
the surveyor at Detroit, whom I mentioned in my first 
paper, told me afterward, when I spoke to him of the 
track we had seen at the lake, that he and his partner 
had on two different occasions seen an immense grizzly 
near Mfc. Jefferson; once within a few rods. It is a pretty- 
well-known fact that a grizzly has made his home at the 
headwaters of the Molalla for years, and a Mr. Clark, of 
Oregon City, told Mead and I recently that a young griz- 
zly was killed there this summer and brought into Oregon 
City. 
Undoubtedly there are grizzlies in the Cascades — not 
many, but some. The bald or mealy face has been killed 
both in the Coast and Cascade ranges. Brown and black 
bear, particularly the latter, are very abundant all through 
this country. 
This was an uneventful day. Myers brought in the 
packs that had been ignominiously dumped at the foot of 
the P. Warmer, which completed the comfort and con- 
venience of our camp. We fished some, but the fish de- 
clined to respond to our most seductive casts, so we spent 
most of the afternoon sitting around camp, taking it easy 
and watching the maneuvers of the mischievous camp 
robbers or whisky jacks. As all mountaineers only too 
well know, they are the most impudent and yet the most 
entertaining of all mountain life, and I for one never tire 
watching them. 
When night came we went out and repeated our ex- 
perience of the previous night with the trout, except that 
we went later and returned to camp earlier with some- 
what les3 trout. But we had fished slowly, and returned 
the smallest to avoid waste. These moonlight trouting 
experiences at Waldo Lake were among the most de- 
lightful of my whole sporting life, and, as Mead re- 
marked, leaving out the P, Warmer, one night on that 
lake was worth all the expense and discomforts of the 
whole trip. 
I wish that I could describe one of those moonlight ex- 
cursions as we saw and felt it, but I can't. Of course, I 
have fished by moonlight before, but never under such 
novel conditions. Standing upon a frail log raft of 
scarcely sufficient dimensions to sustain our weight, we 
would slowly drift out like specters upon the placid 
bosom of the pretty lake and cast our black flies upon its 
dark, unfathomed waters. No mirror ever reflected 
more truly than did Waldo Lake reflect every peak, every 
tree, every twig of its surroundings. Through the pure, 
rarefied air the stars and planets looked unnaturally large 
and luminous. They too were reflected back in all their 
splendor and we were made to feel that we were sus- 
pended in ethereal space, with stars above and below us, 
and that we were beyond the reach of the law of gravita- 
tion. Continuing the comparison, the surface of the 
lake was like the face of a polished mirror, hardly dis- 
cernible -except when some greedy trout came up from 
the depths and struck at some real or imaginary fly. 
Then silvery ringlets would spread away and die in trem- 
ulous light and again the stars would look up at us from 
below. The mountain peaks, bright in the moon's clear, 
full light; the lower forests, dark in the gloom of their 
own somber shadows; the starry lights above and below 
us; the all-pervading, death-like stillness— all made us 
feel that we had in some unaccountable way been spirit- 
ed away from earth to those occult regions of nature's do- 
main from whence no traveler returns. Then the sharp, 
vicious tug of some big rainbow would bring us back to 
a realization of our mundane environments. Our casts 
had to be made toward the moon, for behind us our shad- 
ows were indeed frightful to behold. They looked like 
ogres, wielding immense clubs with hawser attachments. 
Next day Myers wounded a big buck which got away, 
and Christy killed three black bears within two miles of 
the camp. So we had plenty of fresh meat, such as it 
was; but b'ar meat— even such as this, berry fed — is not a 
meat that I hanker after to any great extent. We all 
carried .38-55 guns, Mears and Christy Marlins, Mead and 
myself Winchesters. Either make is good enough, and 
no better guns are made for all-round work in the moun- 
tains. I let Myers use my rifle and I did nothing but fish, 
and so we spent our time at Waldo Lake. We had all the 
ganje and tbat we could possibly use more, but 
