THE SCIENTIST. ' 53 
to twenty minutes in the full gl:ire of the 
sun. 
In 1844 the lirst tele^^raph line was 
erected and completed between Balti- 
more and Washington and on the 24th day 
of May the tirst message, "What hath 
God Wrought" was tlashed over the wire. 
Prof. Morse died at No. 5 West 22nd 
Street, New York, April 2nd 1872. 
His last words were " The best is yet 
to come." 
DUCK MOVEMENT. 
Local and Migratory. 
P. B. Peabody, Burlington, Kansas. 
Every veteran hunter knows how ap- 
parently erratic are many of the move- 
ments of most of the tribes of ducks. 
"Apparently," because there is undoubt- 
edly a law, as yet undiscovered, as valid 
and, under the proper circumstances, 
quite as readily observable, as that which 
governs the Snow Gee!ee, during their 
fall imigrations. as to their times of eat- 
ing and drinking, and going to rest, — 
not to say, "rocst." 
The writer does not presume to think 
that he has discovered any law govern- 
ing the migrations. But he offers a few 
facts for the comparison of notes, with 
his fellow-naturalisis. 
In my observations, four conditions 
control the migrations, or the distribu- 
tion, in migrotions of most varieties of 
ducks: temperature, moisture, food sup- 
ply and persecution. 
Some ducks, however, seem to appear 
and reappear, quite " regardless of the 
weather." Such ducks might well be 
classed as "semi-resident." In this re- 
gion, among these, markedly, are Mal- 
lard and Green- winged Teal. 
Others come early and stay late, both 
spring and fall. In this class belong; 
Bald-pate, Shoveller, Pintailand not t-o 
markedly, Red-head. 
Still others come late and go early, 
that is, are quite distinctively migrant. 
Among these might be numbered; Buf- 
fle-head, Ring-necked and Gadwall. The 
other species occuring in ihe Neosho 
Valley; Hooded Merganser, Red breast 
ed Merganser, Canvas back, Lesser Scaup 
and Ruddy Duck, are too erratic in 
their migratory movements to admit of 
so definite a classification. 
One species has not been named above, 
the Blue-winged Teal, which arrives 
about the first of April, remains, spar- 
ingly, to breed, leaving, as a rule, about, 
May 25, returning, spending the latter 
part of the summer here and leaving in 
ioto, before, say, Oct. 15. To verify the 
above from my field notes for 1890, the 
ducks that are definitely known to mi- 
grate along the line of this valley arriv- 
ed, in the spring of 1890, on the follow- 
ing dates: 
Feb. 1, Pintail, Redhead; Feb. 3, Ring- 
necked; Feb. 10, Green-winged Teal; 
Feb. 11. Mallard; Feb. 13, Baldpate; Mar. 
17, Buftle-head; Mar. 19, Gadwall; Mar. 
31, Blue- winged Teal, Lesser Scaup, Can- 
vass back; April 5, Shoveller and April 
19, Ruddy Duck. 
Of all these, the dates of departure 
for the northern breeding grounds are 
substantially as follows: 
Apr 1, Pintail; Apr, 16, Mallards as a 
whole; Apr. 23, Green- winged Teal, Pin- 
tail; May 15, Canvas-back, Ruddy, Gad- 
wall; June 1, Shoveller, Blue-winged 
Teal, Lesser Scaup and Baldpate. 
Ail specimens observed after May 15, 
are stragglers, except the Lesser Scaups 
and Baldpates, which linger in consider- 
able numbers, until about the first of 
June. 
Of the fall migrations for 1890, I have 
no definite records of any value. What 
follows is byway of general observation. 
Curiously enough, but one specimen 
