824 
on the rocks there, tried to kill some of the birds after 
the boat had moved off. He was not A'-ery successful, the 
shots being chiefly at puffins, which buzzed along like so 
many quail darting out of the brush, and were not easily 
hit. 
hind Birds. 
One of the most interesting things about the bird life 
of this northern country is the great abundance and tame- 
ness of the ravens. At Sitka, Wrangell and indeed all 
along the coast they were extremely abundant, and no 
one seemed to take the trouble to kill them. At Wrangell 
a raven was seen to rise from the beach with a bit of 
food in his bill and fly off, pursued by three or four 
others. The burden which the bird carried was heavy 
and seemed to hamper him, and he was being overtaken 
by the others, when suddenly be shifted the load from his 
bill to his claws. Then lie flew much better and easily 
kept ahead of his pursuers. At Metlakahtla the -ravens 
were ridiculously tame all through the village, alighting 
on houses like pigeons and sitting on stumps or fences 
until very closely approached. They were very noisy and 
had a variety of notes. Two that were preparing to mate 
sat side by side on the ridge of a house, and the male con- 
tinually reached his head over the neck of his mate and 
uttered low coaxing or caressing notes. 
Perhaps nowhere in the world are eagles more abun- 
dant than in these waters. It seemed as if a pair were 
passed every half mile, and their great nests were con- 
tinually seen in the trees along the inlets and ridges; 
they were prominent objects as they sat on the trees 
near the water. 
Striking among the birds of the land, often seen when 
we went ashore, was the broad-tailed humming bird, dart- 
ing about among the brilliant flowers of the hillside and 
often alighting to rest on the twigs of the evergreens. 
The Indians of southern Alaska use the feathers of these 
birds in the ornamentation of their shaman dresses, and 
the way in which they capture the birds is interesting. A 
great slug, 4 or 5 inches long, in color greenish, mottled 
with black, is common here in the forest. The In- 
dians take this slug and whip it with a fine tAvig, which 
causes it to exude a copious mucus or slime, which is very 
viscid and tough. With this mucus they anoint small 
twigs, which they place along the flowers where the 
humming birds come, and if they alight on these twigs 
they are caught and cannot get away. 
Mother Love. 
Walking from the Indian village in Yakutat Bay over 
to the high hills behind, two or three of the party came 
upon a mother willow ptarmigan with a half dozen young. 
The old bird was anxious for her little ones, and walked 
about within 3 or 4 feet of the party clucking uneasily, 
while some of the downy young ones hid in the grass and 
two or three scuttled oS. up the trail to get into the under- 
brush. When one of the young ones was caught and held 
in the hand, the mother bird rose on the wing and flew 
several times about the head of the man who was holding 
it; then she alighted on the ground and walked close to 
him. 
When on the ground she clucked somewhat like a 
setting hen, but with a deeper tone, and after the young 
had been released she called to them, warning them to 
remain hidden, with much the same note that a hen uses 
to warn her chicks when she sees a hawk in the sky. 
When at length the people walked away from her the 
ptarmigan also walked away into the alder bushes. She 
was in summer plumage, her wings and a few breast 
feathers being white, while the remaining plumage was 
black and tawny, somewhat like that of a female Canada 
grouse. . ^ 
It was a pretty sight to see the mother's devotion and 
her entire fearlessness when the yellow and brown young 
one was in the hands of its captor. 
On Islands of Beting Sea, 
The ship left Port Clarence early in the morning of 
Julv 13, and sailed southwestward through a light fog 
which covered the water. The barometer was falling, and 
it rained at intervals through the morning, with a rising 
wind in the afternoon. About 4 o'clock St. Lawrence 
Island was sighted, and soon afterward the vessel en- 
tered a shallow bay west of Northeast Point and anchored 
about two miles from shore. 
Two boat loads of people landed aad spent some time 
on the island, collecting a few birds, among them old 
squaws, eider ducks and Pribilof sandpipers, as well as 
three young swans still in the down. It was here that 
the polar bear hunt, already alluded to, took place. 
On the tundra at Port Clarence a number of golden 
plover were seen breeding, and here they were observed 
to utter not only their usual call notes, but also a song 
which reminded the observers a little of the bluebird's 
warble, and also in some degree suggested the melan- 
choly cry of the upland plover. 
After a brief stop here the vessel proceeded on its way, 
and the next day about 3 or 4 in the afternoon Hall 
Island began to appear, and "by 5 or 6 o'clock it was close 
ahead of us. 
After an early dinner a boat landed on Hall Island, 
which is about five miles long by one and a half or two 
miles wide, and is of volcanic origin. At either end 
rounded mountains, coniposed of broken-down lava rock, 
rise 1,500 feet above the sea. The fauna and flora are 
purely Arctic. There are no trees or shrubs. 
The landing party consisted of twenty-two persons in 
a heavily overloaded boat; but the sea Avas smooth and 
there was no surf, and the shore was reached without 
difficulty. The air and the water were full of seafowl of 
all descriptions — gulls, puffins, murres, guillemots and 
others — and the clifJs which overhung the beach were 
crowded with birds, which were constantly coming and 
going. One of the first things detected on landing was 
a young snowy owl, lying on the bare tundra 50 feet above 
the beach. Not far from it were the_ remains of an old 
house, the condition of the wood showing that it had been 
built many years ago. 
As soon as the landing was made the bird men scattered 
out and began to shoot. This is the type locality for a 
snowflake — the hyperborean — and as these birds were 
very abundant, an effort was made to secure a good 
series. Several of the big-game hunters started out in, 
different directions to look for Polar bears. One of them 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
•WIS oh'iged to hunt down the wmd, but he climbed to 
the ridge of the island, a weathered core of lava, and fol- 
lowed this, looking down into the valleys and ravines on 
either hand. As he climbed higher the fog grew thicker, 
until at length it was so dense that it amounted to a fine 
penetrating rain, which soon wet his clothing. Every- 
where over the island, and especially high up above the 
seaj were seen the tracks of lemmings through the grass, 
and a few upland birds were noticed. Among these were 
chiefly Coues' sandpiper, the snowflake, and a young 
red-poll recently from the nest. The flowers were abun- 
dant, but all of tSiem Alpine forms — saxifrages; Sedum 
Claytonia, ground willows, etc. After a walk of an hour 
or two he turned back, and circling aroimd the hill he 
at last left the laA'^a blocks and reached the tundra. Here, 
as the fog lifted for a few moments, men could be seen 
in every direction, cracking rocks, gathering plants and 
stealing up on small birds. To have fired a shot here from 
a rifle would have been as dangerous as to do the same 
thing on Long Island on one of the deer-hunting days. 
It was at this point that the bear hunter had an 
opportunity tO' bag a botanist. A lifting of the fog 
showed, 75 or 70 yards off, an arctic fox, standing looking 
hard in another direction, sometimes jumping from side 
to side and sometimes up in the air, and generally acting 
in a most eccentric fashion. After the fox had been 
watched for a little while, it became clear that it was 
looking at something still beyond it, .and presently a black 
object showed above the distant ridge and theu disap- 
peared. This was repeated again and again; then some- 
thing white appeared, to be replaced by black, which 
again turned to white. The bear hunter was not aston- 
ished at the bewilderment of the fox, for how should 
this small animal be able to recognize from such glimpses 
as it had of him, a botanist, with his tin case on his back, 
who was alternately stooping and rising as he moved 
about in his collecting. The fox studied the object for 
some time, but at last became suspicious of it and took to 
his heels. He ran a short distance, then stopped and 
looked back, and then ran again. If continued, his course 
\vpuld have brought him quite close to the bear hunter, 
who contemplated trying to kill the animal; but while 
he waited and watched the dogs shut down so as to hide 
everything from view, and a few moments later, wheri it 
had lifted, the fox had disappeared. A little further on a 
sandpiper flew up from the tundra, and with mournful 
cries fluttered fleebiy along for 20 yards, and then fell on 
the ground, where she lay with outstretched quivering 
wings. Sunk in the tundra at his very feet was a nest, a 
cup-shaped depression in the moss, containing four beau- 
tiful eggs, green in color, and with heavy, wide, rich 
brown markings on the larger end. The nest appeared 
to have no lining, but the eggs rested on the dead leaves 
and moss of the tundra, into which the bird had pressed 
her body to make a hollow for her eggs. Noticeable as a 
part of the inner surface of the nest were the stems of a 
curious white tubular lichen, which is a characteristic plant 
of the tundra. 
By this time many of the party had returned to the 
beach, where they had built a good fire of drift wood and 
were getting warm and dry. Among the specimens col- 
lected were two arctic foxes, a fine adult snowy owl, al- 
most pure white; four young owls, many snowflakes and 
one of their nests, sea birds' eggs, a specimen of Sa- 
bine's gull, and a number of lemmings. It was interesting 
to wander along under the wonderful bird cliffs seen 
here. Many, many thousands of murres, puffins, auklets, 
gulls, cormorants and guillemots nest here, and beauti- 
fully adorn the cliff's. It was most interesting to see the 
birds going and coming. 
In all the wanderings over the island no sign whatever 
was found of bears having been there. .The party reached 
the ship about midnight. 
The next morning almost the whole ship's company 
went ashore on St. Matthew Island, where we were 
now at anchor. There was the usual popping by bird 
men; the same rich profusion of flowers; the same cliffs, 
variegated with the different hues of decomposed lava, 
but there was not here the same wealth of seafowl life. 
A few puffins, guillemots, cormorants and gulls nested on 
some of the cliffs near the beach where the boats were 
drawn up, but they were not in anything like so great 
numbers as the night before on Hall Island. Down near 
the shore the air was clear, and one could see for a long 
distance; but when the hills had been climbed the fog 
grew so heavy that nothing could be seen. Two or 
three hours later there were fires built on the beach, and 
almost the whole conipany had collected there. Among 
the captures was a young sandpiper, taken by one of the 
young girls, a good many small birds, king eiders and 
old squaws. About midday the boats took the party to 
the ship, and by 3 o'clock St. Matthew Island was dim 
in the fog. , G. B. G. 
New Yofk Fish and Game Commission* 
Albany, April 21. — (Special.) — The terms of the pres- 
ent Commissioners expire on April 24, on which day they 
hold their final meeting. The newly appointed Commis- 
sioners have been invited to attend this meeting. They 
have signified their acceptance of the invitation, and it is 
understood they will" be entertained in the evening by the 
retiring Commissioners, probably at the Albany Club. 
On the" followng day the new board will organize and as- 
sume control of the department. While it is probable the 
new board will make some changes in the field force of the 
department, it is thought that all the office employees will 
be retained in their present positions. There are only 
three places in the department which are in the exempt 
class of the State Civil Service classification. These 
positions are that of the assistant secretary, confidential 
clerk to the Shell Fish Commisioner and the cashier and 
stenographer in the New York office of the Commission. 
The present assistant secretary is Capt. C. A. Taylor, who 
was appointed soon after the office was created by an act 
of the Legislature in March, 1896. The confidential clerk 
of the Shell Fish Commissioner is Dr. William E. Sylves- 
ter, of New York city, a son-in-law of Senator John 
Raines. The cashier and stenographer is Miss Cora B. 
Kansire, of Rochester. Mather. 
The Forest asd Stream is put to press each week on Tuesday. 
Correspondence intended for publication should reach us at the 
l»te(t by Mocday aad as maeh earlier u practic»b'fc 
inni M iii b i ii ii I'l' . w iL W iii '1 f " ifr a-itm"*— ^ — m .» i — • 
Among the Sugar Maples. 
Last fall, while on a wheeling trip, I spent the day with 
a cousin over in Ontario county, JJ. Y., and while we 
were going over his large farm he pointed out a place in 
the forty-acre wood lot where, years before, he and his 
sons had made maple sugar in the old primitive fashion 
just for the fun of the thing. It was a charming loca- 
tion, a wooded dell, .with a pretty little stream running 
through it, . protected by hills from the cold winds, and 
as I looked at the old charred logs between which had 
hung the great iron kettles I thought what a taste of 
nature it would be t» come down here in the early spring 
and boil down sap in the old-fashioned way, even as 
Uncle Lisha and the Danvis crowd used to do among the 
Vermont hills. I hinted as much to Cousin Charley and 
his son George, and they both acquiesced so heartily 
and cordially that the next spring, when the right time, 
came, they would telephone me, and my son and I would 
come on the first train and they would arrange for our 
transportation over from the station. 
So the winter wore away, and I heard .incidentally of 
George purchasing fifty sap buckets and getting a supply 
of wood ready, and when in the latter part of last March 
the maples in front of my house began to give evidence 
of returning life and the robin's notes drowned out the 
chatter of the English sparrows, and I received a tele- 
phone call from Livonia, I knew what was coming be- 
fore I took down the receiver. It was Cousin Charley 
sure enough, and "Come next week" was thC; burden of 
the message. Verging on middle life, and always living 
in town, I had never even seen the process/of sap boil- 
ing. There were people whom I knew in my own vicinity 
who made a business of sugar and syrup making with all 
sorts of new-fangled evaporator pans, , with*; comfortable 
shelters and every modern convenience, but I wanted 
none of that. I longed for an experience of the old-fash- 
ioned sort, the same as our fathers did it, when maple 
sugar and wild honey were- the. only sweetening to be 
had. >• 
Of course my seventeen-year-'old-boy- 'was~very sorry 
to leave school for a few days — they always are. you know 
— and packing our traps, we were 5ff on th^ rrtorning of 
March 28 full of enthusiasm, and as we trudged up the 
hill to the station a casual observer might have found 
difficultj'^ in telling which was the younger of the two. 
The man who drove us over the farm Said it, was a good 
sap day, emphasizing his remark by a sounding blast in 
the folds of a bandanna handkerchiel So, although it was 
cold, we were cheered by occasio^a.l.glimpses of the sun, 
and when we drew up at the gate the skies had cleared 
and the air was soft and balmy. 
A hearty welcome from Cousin Amelia and the girls, 
backed by a good chicken dinner, put us to rights'; and 
donning our clothes and high boots we vVere ready for 
Charley and George, who just then drove up with the 
old pung that had been in the family eighty years ; and 
piling in, we went trotting down the long lane through 
the drifts and mud toward the sugar bush. As the trees 
were somewhat scattered, we had a barrel. in the sleigh 
and gathered all the sap from the outpost buckets be- 
fore reaching the camp. It was critical fun, holding on 
to that slopping barrel as we went up and down hill from 
tree to tree; but we finally got there without accident, 
our barrel brimming full with the sugar water. 
George had the big logs all arranged, the crotched 
stick in place for one end of the pole, and a convenient 
stump for the other end, plenty of dry and green wood for 
the fire and everything ready for the boiling, which was 
to begin the next morning. After securing the sap, 
about 200 gallons, we went back to the house, and how we 
did eat! And then we smokers smoked by the fireplace 
and the young people sang at the piano, and played cards, 
and we went to bed early, for to-morrow was to be a 
busy day in the sap bush. 
The level rays of the morning sun were just peeping 
through the east windows of the big dining room as we 
finished our last round of buckwheat cakes. The chores 
had been all done up before breakfast, so we were at the 
camp in good season. How good I felt in my old blue 
sweater and corduroys! and I lifted with a will on the 
big kettles as George chained them fast to the cross- 
pole. There had been a sharp freeze during the night, 
making a solid crust on the snow, that held us up 
readily. The sap was frozen on top, but we smashed the 
sweet ice merrily, and soon had the kettles filled and the 
fii-es started. It was somewhat of a slow process to get 
the kettles boiling, but by 9 o'clock they were "wallop- 
ing" blithely. Then, as the sun mounted the sky, the sap 
began to flow freely, and what with gathering it, keeping 
the westing kettles full, feeding the fire, skimming the 
sap, and keeping the pipes going, everybody was busy. 
I took several walks through the softening snow, look- 
ing for evidences of awakening wood lifej and I found 
them in abundance. Bluebirds were trilling everywhere; 
a gray squirrel went bounding over the snow far down 
the vista of the woods. The broad plantigrades of a 
coon showed freshly in the snow, disappearing in An old 
hollow tree, so I knew he was there, but I built rip fire 
in the convenient hole at the foot, contenting myself with 
the thought that he was surel.y snugly ensconced away up 
in that hollow trunk, where his rights should be re- 
spected. Bees buzzed about the sap pans, and on a little 
dry spot surrounded by snow was a lively little grass- 
hopper sunning himself as contentedly as though it were 
July. 
The preponderance of green and wet over dry wood in 
our supply made an occasional trp for shagbark neces- 
sary, and all hands would forage about among the hick- 
ories and strip off the ragged shags and bring in great 
armfuls. Then the fire would blaze and crackle and the 
sap would wallop furiously in the fierce heat, and every- 
body would stand back. 
At noon time George volunteered to keep tlie kettles 
boiling while the rest of us went to dinner. We pitied 
him as we filled up with the substantials provided at the 
farm house; but his mother remembered him bountifully 
in a big basket that the boy and I hurried down to him 
before anything had time to cool. The young man had 
done his duty well, and we found the best fire yet blazing 
around the big black kettles. While George ate we poked 
the fire into still greater fervor, and guessed at the prob- 
able result in gallons of our 'day's work; -when, suddenly 
"chick" came the sound of cracking iron and a rent 
