Nov. t?, igddj 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
S83 
The Linnaean Society of New York, 
A jreguljU? meeting of the Society will be held in tlie 
American Museum of Natural History, Severity-seventh 
street and Eighth avenue, on Tuesday evening, Nov. 27, at 
ii'i o'clock. A lecture Avill be given by Mr. William 
Dutcher: "With the Sea Birds on the Maine Coast,." 
Jllustrated with lantern slides. 
Walter W. Granger, Secretary. 
tmne ^dg md 0m 
Proprietors of shooting resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
iheni in PqsEST anu Stream. 
American Wildfowl and How to 
Take Them.— X. 
BY GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL. 
{Continued from page 86T.] 
Gadwall. 
Anas strepera (Linn.). 
The general colors of the gadwall duck are gray, 
most of the feathers being nearly white, crossed by nar- 
row bars of black or blackish-brown. In the adult male 
the head and ueck are pale browriish-white, thickly 
speckled with black or blackish-brown. The top of the 
.head and back of neck are often rusty brown and the 
throat is yellowish, sometimes dotted with brown. The 
breast and , back are buff, or nearly white, marked wit;h 
dark slate brown or even black bars. The back, scapular 
featiiers and sides, white, with cross bars of black: the 
lower part of the back still darker, changing to absolute 
black on the upper tail coverts. The long scapular or 
shoulder leathers are fringed with reddish-brown; the 
■j,reater coverts at the bend of the wing bright chestnut. 
.'Speculum white, edged beneath with velvety black, and 
with broad patch of the same in front, between the 
white and the chestnut. Belly and under tail coverts 
black; tail gra^', fading to white at the edges; the rest 
of the under parts white. The bill is bluish-black and 
the legs and feet yellow, with dusky webs. The adult 
female is much like the inale, except that she is duller 
throughout and she generally lacks the black of the fitU- 
plumaged male. Usually there is no chestnut on the 
wing, but the speculum is white and the bird may be 
known from any other fresh-water ducks b^^ this charac- 
ter. The young are still more dull in color. Often the 
speculum is indistinct, but th'ere is usually enough of 
it. with the bill, to identify the -species. Mr, Gurdon 
fthe widgeon and the pintail, and gadwalls are very sel- 
dom killed by comparison with other species. So far as 
1 1, we know this bird ought to be on the increase. It seems 
to differ from most ducks in not being gregarious and in 
preferring to keep in pairs or very small companifes, 
perhaps made up of the members of a single family. It 
pays little attention to decoys, and, in ray experience, 
seldom comes to them, although occasionally shot when 
Hying by.- 
The gadwall has a number of common names, of which 
two of the most familiar are gray duck, applied also to 
two other species, and creek duck, which is used along 
the Atlantic coast. Besides this, it is known as speckle- 
belly, from tile dark markings often seen oir the under 
plumage; blaten duck, which is nearly a translation of 
its Latin name; Welsh drake and German duck, given 
by Giraud arid probably now obsolete. Its similarity to 
the Avidgeon is indicated by its names, widgeon and gray 
widgeon, used along the southern Atlantic coast, and in 
England it is sometimes called sand widgeon. 
The nest the gadwall is built on the ground and is 
a mere depr^sion, lined with dried grass or leaves, and 
sometimes with down. It is usually near the wat-er's 
edge and well concealed. The eggs are of a pale creamy 
yellow. 
IS^ 'iE\jtofean'„ "Widgeon, 
Anas penelope (Linn.). 
This species, so familiar in the Old World, is a not un- 
common straggler in North America. It has been killed 
in so many different places that it is important that it 
should be described here. In the adult male in autumn 
and winter the head and sides of neck are bright rufous, 
almost the color of the head of the male red-head, but 
without the metallic gloSs, or still more like the head of 
am 
GADWALL. 
Trumbull was the first to call attention to the presence in 
highly plumaged males of a well-defined black ring, ex- 
tending almost around the neck, between the lighter 
f^'athers of the head and neck and the darker ones of 
the breast. 
The gadwall duck is distributed over almost the whole 
tiorthern hemisphere, being found alike in Europe, Asia, 
Africa and North America. At the same time it is not an 
abundant bird anywhere, apparently never occurring in 
large (locks nor even in frequent small ones. 
In North America, however, its distribution is gen- 
'Sral, but is chiefly westward. Still it has been found 
Ijreeding on the island of Anticosti. in the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence. It occurs in New England and Long Island, 
and to the south of this, generally along the Atlantic 
coast. A female was captured in Bermuda in 1849. 
The gadwall is not uncommon in Illinois, Minnesota 
and generally through the Mississippi Valley, and for- 
merly bred to some extent over the whole country. It 
■is said to be common in California in winter and has been 
taken on the Pacific coast of Mexico, as well as in 
British Columbia. Its chief breeding grounds, however, 
appear to be north of the LTnited States, although no 
doubt to some extent it passes the summer in the high 
mountains of the main range frotn Colorado northward. 
Although the male gadwall is a very handsome bird, 
p.-irticularly striking in his combination of quiet yet 
effective colors, there is something about the species which 
reminds one strongly of the widgeon. Often in a large 
flock of widgeons there may be a small nttmber of gad- 
wall«, and often the giinncr will .see from his blind a 
stnall flock of birds approaching him, which at first he 
imagines to be widgeons, but which, when they have come 
closer, prove gadwalls. 
It is difficult to understand why the gadwall is so 
S'^arce a bird. It is true that in his ornithological report 
of the Survey of the Fortieth Parallel Mr. Ridgwav tells 
us that he found it by far the most numerous ditck during 
the breeding season in western Nevada, where, in the 
valley of the Truckee River from the base of the Sierra 
Nevada Mountains to Pyramid Lake, it outnumbered all 
other 'Species together. Yet there appears to be no region 
known where it occurs in great flocks, like those better 
kn.iwn species with which it commonlv associates, as 
EUROPEAN WIDGEON. 
the male green- winged teal. The forehead and' crown ot 
head are white, often shaded with rufous, so as to be 
cream color or even pinkLsh. The chin is white; throat 
and part of the front of the neck black. Often there is 
a cluster of small blackish or greenish feathers behind 
the eye_ and on the back of the head, and sometimes the 
sides of the head are minutely streaked with dusky. The 
breast is purplish gray; the sides, flanks and back waved 
with cross bars of black and white, the effect being 
somewhat like that of the same parts in the male green- 
winged teal. The tertiaries, or long feathers growing 
from the third bone of the wing, are gray on their 
inner webs and velvety-black edged with white on the 
outer. The wing coverts are white and the speculum or 
wing patch brilliant metallic green, sometimes changing 
to black at the extremity. The upper and lower tail 
coverts are black, the other under parts white, the wings 
and tail brown, the tail often edged with white. The bill 
IS bluish, its nail black, and the legs and feet gray. The 
length is about 18 inches, wing between 10 and II 
inches. 
In the female the head and neck are yellowish-red, 
dotted with black or greenish spots, and sometimes the 
top of the head is altogether black. The general color 
of the upper parts is brown, the feathers being edged and 
barred -with whitish. The wing coverts, instead of being 
white, are merely tipped with white, while the speculum 
is dull black or in the young sometimes even grayish' 
The under parts are white, as in the male. 
The female of the European widgeon is not always to be 
easily distinguished from certain plumages of the Amer- 
ican bird, but its bill and general aspect will always 
identify it as a widgeon, and a specimen about which 
there is any doubt should always be preserved for sub- 
mission to an ornithologi.st. 
This species belongs to the Old World, yet has been 
found over much of the New. It occurs regularly in 
Alaska and breeds there, and. no doubt, it is 'from this 
fact that it has been killed in California, Illinois, New 
York, Pennsylvania. Maryland, Virginia and Florida. 
I have killed it in North Carolina, but it occurs there 80 
seldom that it is not at all known to gunners, and my 
boatman when he picked up this bird took it at first for 
a red-head and afterward for a hybrid. 
Its habits, as observed in the Old World, do not 
greatly differ from those of the American widgeon, and 
it is said to be as numerous in certain parts of Europe 
as our bird is here. 
During the molting season the male loses his bright 
colors, which, however, are regained in the early fall. 
New York Special Protectors. 
At the meeting of the State Forest, Fish and Game 
Commission, Nov. 8, the following special fish and game 
protectors were appointed: Dr. W. B. Savage. Ea.'jt 
Islin. L. I.; Sol Saxton, Jr., Babylon; Simeon Johnson. 
William Smith. Tottenville; Charles Wagner. Prince's 
Bay.; C. V. Tobin. Huguenot; James Gilpin, Green 
Ridge; G, K. Gill, Great Kills; J. W. Zimmerman. West 
New Brighton: Winnie Nehnmec, Bohemia: W. S. Mead 
Woodstock: G, O. Shields. New York city; Dr. B. W. 
Severance, Gouverneur: J. M. Scoville. Clinton; Willjatn 
Koch. Jr.. Whitehall; Seymour Poineer, Branchport. ' 
Maine Game Conditions. 
Boston, Nov. lo. — A bitter complaint comes from the 
Magalloway section of Maine concerning the scarcity erf 
deer this year. Formerly, and particularly in 1899, it was 
considered one of the best deer sections in the State. Now 
one of the oldest guides in that part of the country, who 
has hunted and trapped there for nearly forty years, tells 
some Boston hunters who liave just returned that not 
for several seasons has he found deer so scarce as this 
fall. He blames the September license law for this 
scarcity. He says that the woods were full of hunters in 
September. Very few who went into the woods in 
September armed with a license limited themselves to the 
one deer specified. They killed as many deer as they 
wished, keeping the head and hide of one only in sight at a 
time to show a warden in case he should appear. Such 
licenses have been made to cover all that a party chose 
to slaughter. Another hunter says: 'T did not note the 
number of dead deer we came across on a trip down the 
Magalloway from Parmachenee. There were a great many 
of them. Some of them had not been cut at all if they 
happened to be poor and thin. If they were plump and 
fat, the saddles had generally been cut away. Most of 
the dead deer were does, this makqing a bad matter 
worse." On another trip up the river a guide tbld a 
Lewiston hunter: "You will find dead deer enough up 
the river. Every turn in that very crooked stream stinks 
with them." It must be remembered that all this shooting 
was done before October began. Jacking is also prac- 
ticed on the Magalloway, although strictly against the 
law. The report of shotguns has been heard many a 
night in that section all through the late summer and 
early autumn. Boats and canoes are to be found at 
every hand with arrangements for supporting the jack 
lights. The same can be found at Metalluc Ponds, and 
at some of the ponds in the Richardson Lake region. 
Dekd deer have also gone to decay on the shores of that 
lake and inlets in many cases, generally before the be- 
ginning of October. The hunting of deer with dogs has 
also been indulged in on the lower Magalloway. Nothing 
has been heard of the operations of any warden in that 
section the past season. 
C. B. Seagraves, .of the Cambridge Chronicle, and G. 
H. Fosgate, of the same city, are out of the Maine 
woods, having had good success. They went to the 
upper Dead River region, and sixteen miles from any 
settlement. Mr. Seagraves secured a moose with a fine 
head and antlers, and they each got their quota of deer 
They found the deer fairly plenty, and not over hard to 
get. The moose was shot near night, and the guide 
advised letting him lie without dressing till morning. This 
proved to be a bad misfake, since the weather was warm' 
and the animal should have been drawn at once. In the 
morning it was a bad job to disembowel him. and the meat 
was m so bad a state that they hesitated about bringing 
It out at all, but finally decided to do so. They now 
have him in cold storage, but do not expect much from 
the meat. Always insist on your big game being dressec| 
as soon as possible after shooting. If your guide is 
faithful and knows his business, you will not have to insist 
P^^"^ countrj'men will take to ship game 
out of Maine illegally is worthy of a better cause, besides 
It rarely pays, even if the game gets to Boston. If th^ 
traudule.nt shippers could see in what contempt they are 
held by the very receivers who get the game, they woald 
forever desist. These receivers know that the shippers 
are under the ban of the law, and dare not complain of 
any sort of treatment they may get, hence the sharp re- 
ceiver returns to the shipper about what he pleases. But 
the illegal shippers are at it again this year. The other 
day a warden seized, at Eastport Junction, what pur- 
ported to be a bundle of bear meat. The feet and legs 
of a bear protruded from the cloths, but inside were the 
meat of a couple of deer and some partridges. The 
old scheme of shipping partridges in a big jug or demi- 
john has been revived again this year. It was exposed last 
year m the Forest and Stream. The wardens at Harring-' 
ton found the other day the tops of some whisky ju^-s 
sticking up out of a crate. Investigation showed that' 
only the tops were there, or top parts, and under each' 
were partridges, the straw and crating leaving nothing in 
sight except the tops of the jugs. Let all the shippers! 
remember that by law of this State partridges are illegal 
and cannot be sold in Boston. 
Still the record of deer passing through Bangor shows 
a falling off. The total to the end of last week was 
I, 564 deer and 88 moose, a falling off of over 300 deer 
and 8 moose from a year ago. From some regions the 
returns are better. The region above Kingsfield is still 
sending out a good many deer, probably ' more than a 
year ago though no record was kept then. From the 
Strong Station, on the Sandy River Railroad. 38 deer 
were shipped m October, against 43 for the same month 
last year. A gentleman who has been watching the game 
returns at Lewiston and Auburn writes me that the 
falling off m big game taken by the hunters from that 
section is a bad one, and that unless something better 
is done for protection than is now being done both the 
game and fish of Maine are doomed to early extinction. 
Mr. George L. Smith, of Gardiner, who has charge of the 
wild lands of an extensive owner, informs a Maine paper 
that he finds a marked falling off in the number of deer 
on the lands covered by him. In July he went over the 
thirty-rnile trail from Jackman to Blakesley Lake and 
saw^ thirty-one deer. In August he was over the same 
route, and saw only three ; in September, one : in October 
two. He does not believe that deep snows, bobcats or any 
other cause but the scarcity of food is causing the diminu- 
tion His idea is that the deer, finding feed scarce, are 
working into other regions. 
Shore bird shooting continues good along the shores 
ot Cape Cod, but the past week has been too stormy and 
rough for the hunters. ~ Sheldrake shooting is good from 
Morris Island to Monomoy. The shooting boxes of the 
new Brant Island Club are yielding some good .strings 
of ducks. It IS understood that a great many black ducks 
have been taken by local gunners the recent moonli.:fht 
nights. For this sort of shooting it is necessary that the 
hunter shall know beforehand where the ducks "are likely 
to come into the creeks and inlets to feed. The Plum 
Island gunners are having fair luck, but the birds are 
reported shy and bedding far off shore. Special 
