Nov. 10, igoa] 
FOREST • AND STREAM. 
367 
feoown that all ducks feed at night, especially when there 
is a moon, and the very common belief that the black duck 
does this more than others may be without foundation. 
The black duck is frequently domesticated, and does 
well in confinement, though often after two or three gen- 
■erations it loses its cliai-acteristic color. Domesticated 
.Jjirds are frequently used as decoys, and with great 
effect. 
While the black duck breeds chiefly to the north of 
the United States, nevertheless many rear their young in 
Maine, New Hampshire and occasionally even as far south 
as North Carolina, though there is, of course, a possibility, 
that the birds breeding there may belong to the next 
species. The nest is usually built on the groilnd, con- 
cealed in high grass or rushes, and the eggs vary in num- 
ber from six to eleven or twelve. The3' are grayish- 
white, with a very faint tinge of green. Mr. Geo. A. 
Boardman, of Calais, Mc., however, reports that he once 
found a duslcy duck's nest in a cavity of a leaning birch 
tree about 30 feet high. The young, from the time the.v 
are newly hatched, are expert in hiding, and at tlic ap- 
proach of danger make for the shore and conceal them- 
selves among the grasses. 
Florida Dasky Dock. 
Anas fulvigula (Ridgw.). 
The general color above is brownish-black, as in thi- 
black duck, but the feathers more widely margined with 
yellowish, giving a generally paler cast to the bird. The 
chin and throat are always plain unstreaked buff, these 
[being finely streaked in tiie black duck. The speculum is 
green, sometimes tipped with white, which may then form 
a bar across the wing. The bill is olive-yellow and there 
is a triangular spot of black at its base, near the angle 
o£ the mouth. The legs and feet are orange-red. The 
length is about 20 inches and the wing lo. The female 
is somewhat paler than the male. . 
The Florida duck is an altogether lighter colored bird 
than the dusky duck and there can be no question as to its 
specific distinctness nor of the ease with which it may 
be distinguished if the differential characters are borne in 
mind. These consist (i) in the alto.gether paler colora- 
tion, the under parts being buff, streaked with dusky, in- 
FLORIDA DUSKY DUCIC. ^ 
Stead of the reverse; (2) the plain buff cheeks, chin and 
throat, these parts being thicldy streaked in the dusky 
duck; (3) the black spot at base of upper mandible, next 
to corner of mouth; (4) the green instead of violet 
speculum. 
The Florida dusky duck, while similar to the black 
duck, may thus easil3'' be distinguished from it. The 
general differences are much paler color and absence of 
streaks on the cheeks, chin, throat and fore neck, besides 
a difference in the markings on the bill. This bird was 
long considered to be a pale southern race of the black 
duck, but of late years has been considered a valid species. 
Its range is a very restricted one and it is confined ap- 
parentb"- to southern Florida. 
In habits it does not differ greatly from the ordinary 
black duck, except so far as its surroundings necessi- 
tate a difference. During the winter it resorts for food to 
the fresh-water ponds during the day and at evening flics 
to the shores about the islands, where the night is snent. 
The birds mate in late winter and early soring and the 
broods are hatched in April. The nest is olaced in heavy 
grass or vegetation, which is often so thick as to conceal 
the eggs. Often the nests are placed at the foot of a 
palmetto or other bush. It is said that many of these 
nests are destroyed by the hurning of the gra=!s. which 
takes place each year in certain portions of Florida in 
order to make way for the fresh grass for the cattle. 
The eggs of this species are said to be similar to those 
of the ordinary black duck, but are a little paler and not 
auite so large. It is altogether nrohable that all the black 
ducks killed in Florida may belong to this species. 
Mottled Dock. 
"Anas fulvigula maculosa (Sennett). 
The mottled duck resembles the Florida duck in the 
characters given aboA^e, except that the cheeks are streaked 
instead of plain, the speculum violet instead of green and 
the general coloration rather darker — mottled rather than 
streaked. It is described by Mr. G. B. Sennett as fol- 
Jows: Top of head blackish -brown, .margined with ver\' 
■pale buff. Chin and throat isabella color. Cheeks, buffy 
white, ^v^th narrow streaks of dark brown. Feathers of 
Wea.st. wjpgs. upper narts and flanks blackish -brown, 
raar^ned with pale buff. Under parts buffy white, each 
feather -wfth a broad blackish-brown mark near the tip, 
giving a decidedly mottled appearance. Under tail-coverts 
blacln.sh. with outer marc-ins of inner webs reddi';h-buff : 
those of outer webs huffy-white. The four middle tail 
feathers hlaclcish-brown. the others brownish. Under 
surface of all tail feathers light gray. The speculum Is 
metalliGrpiirple, its feathers .tipoed with whiTe. Length 
about 10 inches, wing 10 inches. 
The rnottle4 difck described by Mr. Sennett as a sub- 
species of thg Florida duck, closely rgsemfeles it, The 
cheeks, however, are somewhat streaked with brown, as in 
the ordinary black duck, though the throat is unstreaked 
and the general appearance of the bird is spotted or 
mottled rather than streaked. The difference in color 
of the speculum in these three forms of black duck is a 
real one, and of importance. It denotes the average effect 
of color independent of changes due to the angle at which 
the light strikes them. 
Very little is known about the habits of this sub- 
MOTTLED DUCK. 
species, which appears to be confined to eastern Texas 
and Louisiana, and to extend its range north as far as 
Kansas. 
These three forms are ' so much alike that it is not 
probable that the average gunner will be able to distinguish 
them apart. They occupy different regions, and while 
their ranges probably overlap, it is not likely that the 
Southern forms are ever found much beyond the re- 
gions which they are known to inhabit. 
Maine Game Conditions. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I have just returned from a hunting trip in the Maine 
woods and the reports. in regard to scarcity of deer are 
true. I not only found this out myself, but heard it on 
every side. The deer have been greatly diminished in 
the State. Whether the September shooting has caused 
this or not I do not know, but I do know that there are 
not so many deer in Maine as there were last year. The 
chief cause of this is the great snow and sleet storms of 
last winter, which killed hundreds of deer and grouse. 
One trapper told me he found in one instance seven 
deer in orfe yard that were frozen to death. I went to a 
noted deer country this year and found very few. 
The moose are holding their own nretty well and 
are very plenty, but there is some talk of putting a 
close time on them next y^av. 
Some eighteen or twenty moose heads have come over 
Northeast Carry. Moosehead Lake, so far, but only a 
few were large ones. This fall has been extremeh' 
mild, and instead of finding moose on the hardwood 
ridges, where they generally are at this time of year 
(Oct. 25), most of them were killed on low burnt land 
and on waterways and near snring brooks or low marsh 
lands. So guides who took their sportsmen on the high 
ridges for the most part did not get their moose. 
A word to the true sportsman. Never let your guide 
under anj'' circumstances carry a rifle, and see that he 
leaves it at the home camo. A man who needs a man be- 
hind him to make "sure" he will get his moose by his 
"putting in" his shot, better keep out of the woods, and 
A'-et this is done over and over again. In some instances 
which I know of, the sportsman has handed the gun to 
the guide, and told him to shoot the moose, he was so 
frisrhtened. 
Beaver are increasing in Maine, and if only let alone 
will be plenty. Their "workings" are one of the most 
interesting sights in the woods which one chances to 
come across in a canoe trip. Birchbark. 
Nov. 3. — ^Not all of the shooting accidents are serious 
this fall, though terrible enough at the best. Now and 
then one comes pretty near being laughable. A Boston 
hunter, prominent in Faneuil Hall Market, is noted for 
his good luck in hunting and the amount of big game he 
lands there every season. The boys hold him in great 
respect, as to his shooting qualities. He has recently re- 
turned from a trip to the Maine woods. Reports say that 
he was not as successful with big game as usual, though 
he killed a pretty big specimen of live animal. Coming 
out of the woods three of them, rather crestfallen be- 
cause they had secured so little game, a partridge sud- 
denly appeared in the road just ahead of the horses. 
One of the three guns cracked at the bird. It was a 
dead miss, but the game did not fly. "See me take him!" 
our friend said, and his shotgun cracked. There was 
great commotion with the poor old horse. The hunter 
had shot him squarely between the ears, and he was so 
badly injured that he had to be killed then and there, and 
the hunters had to walk several miles out to the settle- 
men. Luckily, the horse was not a valuable animal, and 
our friend of the market got off quite easily. But the 
story leaked out. and the boys in the market got hold 
of it. A few days after the guide of our friend who suc- 
ceeded in shooting the horse appeared. Then the boys 
advised the hunter to settle with the man for his horse 
and have no more trouble about it. "Pay the man," they 
"said, "and not be mean about it." He had already done 
so, and thej' knew it. But they allowed that it was too 
bad to deprive the man of his horse without remunera- 
tion. They have given the hunter a new name — a Latin 
name. They call him Domesticus Shooti Horsibus. 
Messrs. W. C. Harding and Theodore Ripley, of the 
Boston Herald, and their friend. R. H. Farewell, are out 
of the Maine woods, and haA^e had great success. They 
went to Dana's camp. Their route wa^ from Patten, 
twenty-three miles to Sebois, thence seventeen miles by 
the Eagle Lake road to the vicinity of Little Millinockett 
Lake, in the Alaguash region Though hard to reach, 
they pronounce this a great game country. They saw 
from six to twenty deer every day, and secured all the 
law allows. But it fell to Mr. Ripley to carry off the 
prize. It was a monster moose. His antlet spread was 
57 inches, from forward to back tine 37 inches, width 
of right palm 12 inches, left palm 10^2 inches, points on 
right antler 13, left 10. From nose to crown the hiiiid 
measured 37 inches, length of back, crown to laiJ, 7 lect. 
The bell on the neck was pure black and was S inches 
long and 8 inches deep. The color was generally black, 
but tinged with gray on shoulders and at othGi' pointij. 
The beast weighed at the railroad 781 pounds.. Thu 
hunters say that they took out over 200 pounds of entraiU 
and blood, and that he must have shrunken at leaSt roo 
pounds before getting him out to the railroad. This 
brings the weight up to about 1.T00 potmds. It took 
four horses to draw him out of Ihe woods^ The head 
is being mounted, and promises to be one of the finest 
ever brought to Boston. Frank M.cKennt'y, Ihe guide, 
tells them that he kept watch of the big game in that 
section last winter; that the deej- fared vtiry hard in the 
deep snows. In the spring he found (he bodies of 
tweny-six deer that had perished doubtless in the snow. 
He believes that the lack of deer in some sections of 
Maine this fall is due to the fact that they died in the 
deep snows last winter. 
Mr. J. E. Hall, of Bangor, has been on a Ixiuiting: .trip 
to Caribou and Square Lake. He tells a Boston friend 
that the deer arc now on the hardwood ridges, and that 
they are hard to get. He believes that thc-y arc really 
plentiful in that region, while moose are more numerous 
than last year. He says he stopped a few days ai. D. S. 
Cummings' camp at Square Lake. Just before he got 
there Cummings and another guide had come upon two 
bull moose engaged in deadly combat. " They were so 
interested in their battle royal that they did not notice 
the hunters, who watched them soiw time before shoot- 
ing them both. Special. 
New York, Nov. 2. — Editor Forest and Stream: Hav- 
ing recently read in Forest and StreAint a not very en- 
couraging report of hunting prospects m Mame. I write 
to give you my experience in that State last month, think- 
ing it may interest those -wha contemplate a hunting trip 
this year. 
I left Mt. Kineo on Oct. 13 for the Northwest Carry, and 
camped that night at Nigger Brook. The next morning 
we proceeded up Elm Stream to the dam, a distance of 
perhaps three miles, and finding there an old lumber 
camp, we occupied it in preference to making use of a 
tent. 
I hunted four days, and in that time killed all that 
the law allows, and all by still-hunting. The deer were 
small — in fact, I only saw two large bucks — ^but there 
were plenty of them, and I had no difficulty in obtaining 
easy shots. I saw at least twenty. The moose, while a 
very large one, had a spread of only 45 inches. I saw 
afterward a finer head, and signs, were plentifxiL One 
ball from a .45-70 was sufficient to drop my moose in 
his tracks, but that struck him between the eyes. Two 
other moose heads were brought out to Mt. Kineo while 
I was there, and I know of three more moose that were 
killed in that vicinity, and this within the first week after 
the season opened. The Elm Stream country. I was told, 
had not been hunted over recently, most people beileving 
they would stand a better chance by going further into 
the woods. 
My success was largely due to the fact that T had for 
a guide Simon Mayo, of Mt. Kineo, one of the best 
hunters I have ever been out with. 
The large hotel at Mt. Kineo is closed, but the Cottage 
is most comfortable. I had my family with me, and Mr. 
Judkins was a most agreeable host. I will be glad to 
give further information on this subject to any one who 
may desire it. A. D. Elsworth. 
With the Woodcock. 
Often when "chained to business" has Forest and 
Stream come as a welcome guest, and tnany an hour 
that perhaps would ha^^e been spent otherwise has been 
turned into an hour of pleasure by the perusal of the 
columns of this my favorite journal. 
It has been said that it is a long lane that has no turn- 
ing, for after having been confined closely to business 
all summer, lately I have been enabled to take an oc- 
casional day afield. Let me tell you about one which, for 
this part of the world, we considered pretty good from 
a game bag standpoint, and exceptionally good from a 
pleasant outing standpoint. "We" included Billy, Charlie 
and Jack and three dogs. Billy is on old hand, having 
many a woodcock to his credit. Charlie had never killed 
one, and Jack could onlj'- go him one better, having' 
killed his first a few days before, on Thanksgiving Day. 
Five A. M. found the three of us seated in a Gladstone. 
Avith dogs, guns, ammunition and grub safely stOAved 
aAvay, and a start was made. Billy was captain, having 
had lots of experience and knowing the country round 
like a book. It was decided to try some reported good 
woodcock ground about seven miles from toAvn and 
about half a mile off the main road. Six o'clock found us 
near the place, and the horse was allowed to take it easy, 
as it was y&t almost too dark to see to shoot, the morn- 
ing having turned out very cloudy. However, it was 
soon light enough, the horse was secured in a con- 
A^enient fence corner, guns put together, cartridges put 
into pockets, and a little lunch eaten for breakfast, and 
then we take to the bush. Billy said he had never had 
an}' luck just around there, and only tried it on account 
of Avhat others had told him. We hunted it carefully, all 
the most likely and unlikely spots being thoroughly 
gone OA'er, but not a feather did we raise. 
After spending about .an hour here, we decided to 
try another place about half a mile the other side of 
the main road. Billy and Jack left the rig to try some 
snipe ground on the Avaj', but Mr. and Mrs. Wilson and 
family Avere not at home. Next a patch of cedars Avas 
passed, and out Avhistled a woodcock in front of the 
dog. but too far off for a successful shot. The next 
bush tried was a mixture of swamp avUIoavs, poplars, 
alders and an occasional cedar and balsam. On the edge 
