Feb. 2, igoi.l 
FOREST AND STREAM. 

87 
ottier hand, we know that it is commonly found during 
the summer in the northern Rocky Mountains, and I 
have seen the birds, evidently mated, in the Sierra 
Nevadas, in June. There, Mr. Ridgway tells me that it 
breeds as far south, at least, as Calaveras county, Cali-- 
fornia. 
All through the summer months in northwestern Mon- 
tana harlequins may be seen spending their time, in 
small numbers, on lakes, often in the high mountains, 
where the milky waters from the glaciers form curi- 
ous little mountain tarns at the edge of the timber line. 
Its nest has not been found in this country, and only 
twice in Europe: once by Mr. Shepherd, who states that 
he found it breeding in Iceland "in holes in the trees," 
while the Messrs. Picrson state that they found them 
also in Iceland in holes in the banks. It is altogether 
great scale. It was not especially sought for as a table 
bird, and no satisfactory reason has as yet been ad- 
vanced for its disappearance. The number of specimens 
of the bird now existing is very small, probably not more 
than sixty in all, of which about two-thirds are in this 
country. A very beautiful group of Labrador ducks is 
to be seen in the American Museum of Natural History, 
in New York, where five specimens have been hand- 
somely mounted in their natural surroundings. 
StcIIer's Duck. , 
Eniconetta stelleri (Pall.). 
In the adult male, most of the head and upper portion 
of neck are satiny white; the space between base of bill 
and eye and the tuft running across the back of the 
head, dark olive-green. The space about the eye, chin 
and throat, and band about the lower neck, the middle 
of the back, the long, shoulder feathers, tertiaries and 
STELLER S DUCK. 
the charms of our country through the Association's ex- 
hibit at the Sportsmen's Show in New York. The Asso- 
ciation has given up its time and money to make these ex- 
hibits until this year. The business men and hotel rnen 
in our town and adjoining ones, realizing and appreciat- 
ing the direct benefit to them from these exhibits, this 
year have contributed the necessary funds to send down a 
first class exhibit. They have felt your touch and re- 
sponded with a hearty hand-shake. 
"You are now stepping over the threshold into a new 
year. Time has come for you to put on the harness, get 
to work and pull together. Petty jealousies must be 
trampled under your feet. Work to uphold and make 
prominent the two great fimdamental principles under- 
lying your Association. First, to secure to the public 
competent and trustworthy guides; second, to aid in the 
enforcement of the forest and game laws of the State. 
Upon this last clause particularly depends your continued 
success. You are now at your zenith. The position you 
have taken and the small amount of work you have done 
in aiding to protect the forests and game has been widely 
discussed." 
Hon. Verplanck Colvin, of Albany, who had hoped to 
be present, and also Hon. Frederick D. Kilburn, State 
Superintendent of Banking, sent lengthy letters to the 
Association, which were read by Seaver A. Miller^ and 
received hearty applause. Mr. Colvin wrote: "Who 
shall be the custodians, who shall protect the woods, the 
waters and the game? In my opinion, the guides, hunters 
and woodsmen of the Adironracks should be game pro- 
tectors and forest wardens. Let each guide, hunter or 
woodsman who desires to be a State game protector or 
forest warden get a petition signed by resident land 
owners and reputable citizens that he has been a guide or 
forester resident in that coimty for the past ten years; 
that he is familiar with the woods and waters, with the 
streams and trails, and has an especially good knowledge 
of the fish and game, and will protect them, and that 
he knows the lines separating State and private lands, can 
travel the woods without trails, and will fearlessly protect 
the forests. Let the Board of Supervisors of the counties 
be empowered to receive and consider petitions and 
authorized to make and file in the office of the coimty clerk 
of the county a list of names approved by them as com- 
petent and reliable guides and foresters, by a certificate 
attached to the papers of those whom they approve as 
especially competent for such work, such list to be certi- 
fied annually by the president of the Board of Super- 
visors as the eligible list from which appointments of game 
and forest wardens can be made. From these lists the 
State authorities could then each year select such men as 
should be needed in the forest wardens, retaining those 
found faithful and discharging those found negligent. 
These men should be permitted to pursue their ordinary 
avocations as guides or woodsmen, which would give 
them better opportunity to watch and guard the forests 
than if their movements were those of hated spies lurking 
in the forests. Better one hundred guides and foresters 
earning their own living with a bonus of $ioo each, equal 
to $10,000 per annum, than twenty spies at $500 each per 
year, equal to $10,000 per annum. 
"As a precaution against accident, the green garb of the 
ancient backwoodsman might well be copied by guides, 
tourists and travelers. A bright green hunting suit 
harmonizes with the forest and is unlike the color of bear 
or deer, beast or bird. Cloth of light sky blue color has 
the color of river and lake, and is unlike that of any ani- 
mal, but is that of the plumage of some birds. Black 
and reddish brown and gray are particularly dangerous, as 
a person thus clothed might be mistaken for deer or bear." 
At the business meeting Dr. Frank E. Kendall was re- 
elected Honorary President; Edwin E. Sumner, Presi- 
dent ; Warren J. Slater, Secretary, and Oatman A. Covill, 
Treasurer. 
The meeting then adjourned until the third week in 
January, igo2, after passing a number of resolutions 
recom.mending to the Legislature changes in the fish and 
game laws. Seaver A. Miller. 
American Wildfowl and How to 
Take Them* — XXL 
BY GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL. 
{Continued from page 6T.] 
Harlequin Duck. 
Histrtonicus histrionicus (Linn.). 
The general color of the male harlequin is leaden- 
blue, marked with black, white and chestnut, as follows: 
Space between base of bill and eye, with a strip ex- 
tending along the crown, a round spot near the ear, a 
narrow strip extending from below the ear a short dis- 
tance down the upper neck, a narrow collar around the 
lower neck, a bar across the side of breast, in front of 
the bend of the wing, a part of the scapulars and ter- 
tiary feathers, tips of some of the greater wing-coverts, 
a spot on the lesser wing-coverts and a round spot on 
either side, just before the tail, white. The collar about 
the neck, the bar on the side of the breast, bordered with 
black. A strip from the forehead to the back of the 
neck, black, bordered with rufous. The rest of the head 
and neck is dark lead color, sometimes almost blackish, 
and with glossy reflections. The rump, upper and under 
tail-coverts are black; quills of the wing and tail, dusky; 
sides and flanks, bright tan, inchning to reddish. The 
bill and feet are bluish-gray; length about seventeen 
inches. 
The adult female has the space between the eyes and 
bill and a spot behind the ear, white; the rest of the 
head and neck are dark brown, darkest on top; wings 
and tail blackish; the other parts reddish-brown, except 
the belly, which is white. 
The harlequin duck is one of the most striking and 
beautiful oi our ducks. It is one of our most northern 
species and not very much is known about it. On the 
Atlantic coa.st it is seldom found south of Maine. It is 
a bird of the Old World as well as the New, and, in fact, 
is found over the northern portions of both hemispheres. 
British crnitholo.aists. however, ■ have declared that it 
is only a straggler on that continent, except that it 
pQ^tjrs regularly in Xcelanci Ea?*?^ Am- Qo the 
HARLEQUIN DUCK. 
probable that in the northern Rocky and Sierra Nevada 
Mountains the harlequins breed in trees, while in Alaska 
they very likely breed in holes. In the summer of 1899 
harlequins were seen abundantly on the salt water in 
Alaska, but all those taken were males. They were very 
common in Prince William Sound and at many points 
in the Bering Sea. An interesting account is given in 
the Zoologist for 1850 on the breeding in confinement of 
a pair of this species in Melbourne Gardens, Derbyshire. 
Eight eggs were laid, which were hatched about the 
middle of June, and several of the young ducks reached 
maturity. Some of the names given for this duck by 
Mr. Gurdon Trumbull are painted duck, mountain duck, 
rock duck, lord for the male and lady for the female, and 
squealer. 
Labrador Dock, 
Camptolaimus labradorms (Gmel.). 
In the adult male the head, upper neck, Upper breast 
and wing, except the long quill feathers, are white. A 
strip on the crown, running down over the back of the 
head, a collar about the neck, the back, rump, quills of 
wing and tail and entire under parts, black. The cheeks 
are sometimes tinged with yellowish. The long scapulars 
are pearly-gray and the tertiaries have black margins. 
The bill is black, with some orange at the base and along 
the edges; the feet are grayish-blue. The bill is some- 
what expanded near the tip. 
The female has the plumage of a general brownish- 
gray tint. The tertiaries are ashj'--gray, edged with black, 
LABRADOR DUCK. 
and the secondaries, white, forming a distinct wing patch. 
The bird is about twenty inches in length. 
The Labrador duck, or, as it is sometimes called, the 
pied duck, is one of our North American birds which 
has already become extinct, and this only within com- 
paratively few years. It was a bird of the seacoast and 
was formerly not uncommon along the Atlantic, as far 
south as New Jersey, yet it seems never to have been 
very abundant. Giraud, who wrote in 1843, said of it: 
"This species is called by our gunners 'skunk duck,' so 
named from the similarity of its markings to that animal. 
With us it is rather rare, chiefly inhabiting the western 
side of the continent. In New Jersey it is called 'sand- 
shoal duck.' It subsists on small shell and other fish, 
which it procures by diving. Its flesh is not considered 
a delicacy. A few are seen in our market every season." 
In the j'ears 1871, '72 and '73 specimens were occa- 
sionally exposed for sale in the New York markets, but 
even at that time the bird had become so rare that orni- 
thologists were on the watch for it, and as soon as a 
specimen was exposed for sale it was bought up. ' 
The pied duck was a strong flyer and apparently well 
able to take care of itself, and its practical extinction 
togk pl??e bsfor? gtinning was practt?€<3 on any very 
secondaries, glossy blue-black- The rump, upper tail- 
coverts and tail, somewhat duller black. The scapulars 
are streaked lengthwise with white, while the tertiaries 
have the inner webs of the feathers fully white, and the 
secondaries are tipped with white. The wing-coverts, 
some of the scapulars and the sides of the back are 
white. The quills of the wing are dull black, while the 
lower parts are rusty-reddish, darkest in the middle of 
the belly and fading on the sides and breast to buflf. 
The dusky of the belly darkens toward the tail, until it 
becomes dull black. There is a spot of blue-black on 
the sides below the bend of the wing. The bill and feet 
are grayish-blue. 
The adult Female is generally reddish-brown, speckled 
with dusky or black. There are two narrow bars across 
the wing, formed by the tips of the greater coverts and 
of the secondaries. The speculum is brownish; under 
parts light brown, spotted with brownish-black; the back 
sooty-brown. 
This very handsome duck is found in America only 
on the coasts of Alaska. It frequents the coast of 
,\sia, however, and has been taken in Russia, Sweden, 
Denmark and Britain. It appears, however, to be only 
a straggler in western Europe. It is distinctly an Arc- 
tic bird and more numerous in Alaska that at any other 
place. The nest is built on the ground, among the grass, 
and is well concealed. It is said to breed on St. Law- 
rence Island. 
The species is one that can interest only Alaskan 
sportsmen, but it is an exceedingly beautiful bird. 
In the Indian Tertitory, 
Pryor Creek, I. T. — This country, where I am now 
located, is certainly one of the greatest on earth, taken 
from almost any point of view. Its producing qualities 
are second to none. Everything grows and flourishes 
here, particularly grain of all kinds. The next few years 
will see a wonderful change ; sooner or later this land will 
come on the market, and when it does it will be snapped 
up. Even now there are parties who are only waiting 
for the time to come. 
What interests me is the game that is here. We have 
everything but the ruffed grouse— deer, wild turkey, 
quail, geese, ducks, woodcock and snipe by. the thou- 
sands. All kinds of plover, and snakes, too. 
In Cleveland, O.. I am having mounted what is proba- 
bly one of the largest diamond-back rattlesnakes ever 
captured or killed. It is over 7 feet long and it is about 
10 inches around. It has fourteen rattles on it. I pur- 
chased it from an Indian, and I must confess I would 
much rather meet it as I did (with the Indian) than when 
it was roaming over the hills of the Cherokee Nation. 
This is the country par excellence for dogs to develop 
in. Quail are here by the thousands, and a find of thirty 
of forty coveys is not an unusual one. 
Our hvinting is done from a buffgy, and just now we 
find the birds in the sumach bushes. I have at last seen 
a dog do what I have often heard they would do but never 
before saw them do, viz., find a covey of quail and if the 
shooter did not get to him he would leave them and come 
to the shooter and by his actions let him know he had 
found the birds and take him back to them. I saw him. 
do the trick twice one day, and he raised himself a good 
deal in my estimation. Now I am prepared to believe 
a well-bred setter can do most anything but talk. 
R^B, Morgan. 
Protection of Gtillr* 
Port Richmond, Jan. 28.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
Your editorial item regarding the lack of protection to 
gulls prompted me to draft a bill intended to put them 
specifically in the class of birds protected through all 
seasons and to take them specifically out of the class 
unprotected during certain seasons as web-footed wild 
fowl. It is a coincidence that our Assemblyman, Hon. 
Calvin D. Van Name, spoke to me regarding these 
graceful and beautiful birds of our harbor, on the day 
of your last issue, and said he had it in mind to speak- 
to me regarding the question of their protection. It is 
gratifying to have this unsolicited assurance of aid from 
such a quarter. I mailed the proposed act to-day, and 
unless gon,i? better 5ybsti.t1.tte is found, it should become 
law, EeWAR© Sidney Rawson, 
