164 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
^Marc^ 2, 1901. 
that to them it was only ''sugar^' and not maple sugar 
after all. Then many people in this country — in the cities 
and in the South — affect .to dislike maple sugar, the fact 
being that they have never tasted any but only the 
wretched mixtures sold as maple on street corners, and 
which often have not a trace of maple in them. Even 
in Boston I one day broke onen a cake of the yellow stuff 
exposed on Winter street — looking for all the world like 
beeswax, and labeled maple sugar — and found inside it 
tell-tale sugared cherry of the confectioner who com- 
pounded the stuff. But the boys and girls of Vermont 
and New Hampshire are experts in such matters and not 
to be deceived, and wherever they go they are wont to 
send back to some trusted neighbor or friend for their 
yearly can of syrup and box of sugar. 
The maple grows grandly all over Vermont. May my 
blessing fall on all the good citizens who for years have 
set out the maple trees in rows along the highways! 
Sometimes for half a mile, not only through a village 
street, but past some lonely hill farm, the rows of maples 
stand, superb in their strength and symmetry and shade 
giving power. In summer foliage they are wonderful, 
but in autumn their glory is simply indescribable. 
If you have on your hands a particularly "cockney" 
Englishman, whose conceit of the superiority of every- 
thing English you want to break down and whose as- 
sumption of unimpressionability you want to break up, 
take him to Vermont or New Hampshire in the "moon 
of fallinp- leaves." You will capture him — horse, foot and 
dragoons. There will be no help for him. No mortal 
made of "penetrable stuff'" can withstand it, for there is 
nothing like it on earth, and I am not going to attempt 
the impossible by trying to picture it. 
But my illustration reminds me of a good story which 
Professor Niles, the geologist, tells. He once, in the early 
days, when Crawford Pond, in the Crawford Notch of 
the White Mountain, was swarming with trout and free 
to all com.ers, took an Englishman there to give him a 
good sample day of American trout fishing. They were 
out on a raft, and had begun to cast, the trout biting 
voraciously, when, glancing up at the mountains. Pro- 
fessor Niles saw one of the sudden mountain showers 
swooping do\TO upon them. He shouted to his friend 
that there was not a moment to lose if they wished to 
reach shelter. But the Englishman's sporting blood was 
■up, and he scorned all showers or other trifles so long 
as he could take trout in that fashion. "All right," said 
Professor Niles, "I can stand it if you can." So he 
shrugged his shoulders, turned up his coat collar, and 
landed another trout Just then the cloud-burst struck 
them. They were drenched to the skin in a moment; the 
thunder crashed, the water boiled and liissed under the 
falling torrents: and amid the din was heard the voice of 
the Englishman: "Here, Niles, take my rod. I'm going 
to get under this raft — where there ain't so much water!" 
The forest trees afford infinite opportunity for study, 
and in ways utilitarian or scientific or aesthetic as one 
chooses. Each species has its own general characteristics, 
each individual its style and peculiarity. Many a time I 
wished for a camera that I might preserve the picture of 
some particularly fine old maple or elm or oak. In one 
valley I found a good deal of cedar and ground juniper. 
Why only in that valley? Had this to do with the geology 
of the valley and the soil derived from certain underlying 
rocks? 
Certain geological phenomena can here be studied to 
better advantage than an3rwhere else in New England, 
better than in any other place I have ever seen save in 
Montana. I mean the river terraces. Rank on rank they 
rise from the rivers, the same terrace often traceable for 
miles, sometimes transversely cut and notched by ravines 
and gullies till all that is left is a series of saw teeth, again 
the level bench of sand stretches away unbroken. It is 
all water-washed and water-deposited sand, powdered 
mountain, ground off from the higher peaks and packed 
in these level layers against the sides of the valley. 
Altogether it was a strange and very pleasant experience 
and one which I hope I may some day repeat. 
C. H. Ames. 
Albino Hawks* 
I AM glad to see that my suggestion in your paper re- 
garding the recording of such facts as come to sports- 
men's notice of birds in unusual plumage has brought 
out the notes of so excellent an observer as Manly Hardy, 
and his remark that albinism in hawks is more largely 
confined to the red-tailed than other species is very true. 
Since my records of this species in your issue of Feb. 
9, I am enabled to give one more instance. In a letter 
from Arthur T. Wayne, dated Mt. Pleasant, S. C, Jan. 
22, 1901, he writes: "Last Saturday I saw on Dewee's 
Island, a coast island, near my house, a beautiful albino 
red-tailed hawk, but could, not get a shot at it. The bird 
was in' company with two black vultures, and I saw it 
closely while sailing. The tail was red, but the rest of 
the plumage was white. I am going to-morrow after it, 
and if I secure it you shall hear from me." 
The only records of albinism which T have among the 
smaller hawks is that of the broad-winged (Buteo latis- 
simkis) , a pure white example of which was in the collec- 
tion of Otho C. Poling, Quincy, 111..- in September, 1888, 
and in a list of albinos in the collection of the late Geo. 
W. Lawrence, which he sent me in January. 1875, there 
was included a specimen of Cooper's hawk {Acciplter 
cooperii). There are, no doubt, other species unrecorded 
in public and private colections. 
RUTHVEN De.^ne. 
Chicago, Feb. 22. 
Game Warden Smith, of Pittsfield, Mass., has recently received 
several complaints regarding the use of ferrets for rabbits in the 
southeastern part of that city, and he is making a vigorous investi- 
gation of the violations of the game laws. Alarmed at the reck- 
less slaughter of pickerel, Mr. Smith has written the Massachusetts 
Fish and Game Commissioners recommending the passage of a law 
to allow a fisherman to set only three lines at a time. One day 
recently Mr. Smith counted no less than 540 lines set on Pontoosuc 
Lake, and some present had as many as thirty tip-ups. So great 
was the net work that Mr. Smith says it would have been practi- 
cally impossible for a pickerel to cross the lake without being 
ensnared, 
The Forest and Stream is put to press each week on Tuesday. 
Correspondence intended for publication should reach ns at th« 
latest by Monday and as much earlier as practicable. 
<i> 
I'ro^nciurB ot shooting resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
rheni m Foaist add Stuam. 
American Wildfowl and How to 
Take Them* — XXIV* 
BY GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL. 
{Continued from page 129.] 
The American Velvet Scbter. 
Oidemia deglandi (Bonap.). 
The adult male has the bill expanded into a promi- 
nent knob at the base on the top. .A.I the sides the bill 
is sunken, as if hollowed out. This knob, with the base 
of the bill and its margin, is black. The sides of the 
bill in front are red, changing to orange and then to 
white near the tip. The plumage is uniform black, 
often very deep <5r often brownish througliout. There 
is a small white spot behind the eye and the secondaries 
are white. 
The female is uniform dirty gray, the wings darKer 
than the body. The secondaries are white, as in the 
male. The length is about 21 inches. 
One of the commonest of the winter sea ducks is the 
velvet duck, more often called the white-winged coot. 
It is found on both coasts and also on the Great Lakes 
AMERICAN VELVET SCOTER. 
and some of the inland rivers in winter. It comes 
down to the New England coast la.e in September and 
spends the winter there in company with -the other 
coots and the eider dticks. It is exceedingly abtmdant 
and is shot by the various methods described in the 
chapter on sea shooting. While migrating, or while 
taking long flights, it flies high above the water, often 
out of gunshot, but from such heights I have sotnetimes 
seen it brought down, either by the expedient of shoot- 
ing or shouting at it, or sometimes I have seen a gun- 
ner scale his hat high into the air, -when the whole flock 
would dart 20 or 30 or 40 yards directly downward to- 
ward the water and then continue their flight. Usually 
VELVET SCOTER. 
the birds, when flying from their roosting to their feed- 
ing grounds, pass but a few feet above the water, mov- 
ing along with a strong, steady flight. 
The white-winged coot feeds almost exclusively on 
small shellfish, which it brings up from the bottom, and 
the flesh is very far from palatable. The gunner on the 
New England coast who kills them usually parboils them 
for a time, and then bakes them, the result being a dish 
that is eatable, but is thought by many to lack character. 
The velvet ducks breed in Labrador and to the north- 
ward as far as the Barren Grounds. The nest, often 
made among underbrush or low woods, is a hollow in the 
moss, lined with down, and contains seven or eight eggs. 
This species, like the old squaw and the other coots, 
.spends much of its time, late in the spring in preparing 
for the long flight that it must make to its summer home. 
The hours from 3 o'clock in the afternoon until dark are 
spent chiefly on the wing, and often it is not much 
before the first of June when the last of the coots leave 
the New England shores. 
On the Pacific coast this species is found in winter as 
far south as southern California and in summer to 
the Bering Sea. In the month of July I have seen them 
on the Gulf of Georgia in vast numbers, the birds being, 
no doubt, chiefly males, and the females incubating some- 
where in the vicinity. 
The coots are regarded as exceedingly tough and 
hard to Idll, and the gunners along the New England 
coast who shoot them commonly use very large shot, 
often 3's, and sometimes 2's. Birds that are only wounded 
dive and skulk with great skill, and if there is any sea 
on the water are likely to escape notice and not to be 
recovered. Often they dive, and apparently never come to 
the surface again, and it is believed that they cling to 
weeds at the bottom and remain there until dead. 
Some of the names given for this species by Mr. 
Trumbull are May white-wing or great May white-wing, 
pied-winged coot, bell-tongue coot. Uncle Sam coot, bull 
coot, brant coot, sea brant, assemblyman, channel duck. 
The Velvet Scoter. 
Oidemia fusca (Linn.). 
In the adult male the bill is much swollen near the 
gap, but is not much elevated at the base. The general 
color is orange or reddish, crossed on each side by a 
diagonal black line, running from above the nostril 
obliquely to the side of the nail. The plumage is 
brownish-black, with a small patch behind the eyes, and 
a white speculum on the wing. 
The female is sooty-gray, paler beneath, and with a 
white speculum. 
The velvet scoter is scarcely to be considered an 
American bird, being only an accidental visitor to our 
shores. It is an Old World species, which has, however, 
been taken in Greenland. It is not a bird to be considered 
by the sportsmen, who will never rneet with it. 
S«rf Scoter, Sfcank-Head. 
Oidemia perspicillata (Linn.). 
The adult male is deep black above, changing on the 
lower parts, to a very dark brownish-black. There is a 
white patch on the forehead, cut off squarely behind 'the 
eyes, and running out to a point a little beyond the gap 
of the bill. On the back of the head and neck there is 
another white patch, cut off squarely in front and run- 
ning down to a semi-circular ending on the back of the 
neck. The bill is swollen at the base, white and red in 
color, with a squarish patch of black on either side near 
the base. The nail is horn-color. The feet are orange, 
Avith dusky webs. 
The adult female is brownish-black everywhere, be- 
coming sooty or almost lead color below, and some- 
times almost white on the abdomen. The bill is black, 
ljut little swollen, and, of course, the black spot shown 
in the male is not apparent. The bird's length is about 
SURF SCOTER. 
20 inches. Mr. Ridgway states that sometimes in the 
adult male there are other white marks than those de- 
scribed, and sometimes one or the other of the white 
patches on top of the head are wanting, but thgse con- 
ditions are very unusual. 
This species, which is known as surf duck in the books, 
is commonly called by gunners coot, sea duck, skunk- 
head and also sometimes hollow-billed coot. It is pecu- 
liar to America and in habits and distribution does not 
differ markedly from our other coots. It is said to breed 
on the Arctic coast and to proceed southward as far as 
Bermuda. It is also commonly found on the Great Lakes 
and is not infrequently killed b}^ gtmners on the marshes 
to the south of them. Mr. Audubon found it breeding as 
far south as Labrador, in fresh-water marshes, and 'the 
nest was rather more substantial than that of many of 
the sea ducks, being well built and lined with down. It 
contained five eggs of a cream color. Nests found by Mr. 
MacFarlane on the Anderson River contained eight eggs. 
While vast numbers of coots winter on the New Eng- 
land coast, and seem to thrive there, equally great num- 
bers apparently proceed further south, wintering in the 
mouth of the Delaware River and in Chesapeake Bay and 
out at sea. In these regions, however, where there are 
so many better ducks, they are not much pur.sud, and, on 
the whole, it may be said of these coots, and of the old 
squaws, that they are by no means growing fewer in 
numbers. 
Besides the names already given, Mr. Trumbull tells us 
that this duck is called horse-head and bald-pate, off the 
coast of Maine; patch-head, patch-polled coot and white- 
scop, at other points on the New England coast; muscle- 
bill, pictured-bill and plaster-bill, snuff-taker, spectacled- 
bill coot and spectacle coot, blossom-bill and blossom-head, 
butter-boat-billed coot; while the femaes and young are 
called, at various points, pishaug, gray coot and brown 
coot. 
The Last Vermont Panthet. 
St. Johnsbury, Vt., Feb. 22. — It may interest Juvenal 
and your readers to know that the last panther killed in 
Vermont was killed on Thanksgiving Day in 1881 by 
Alexander Crowell, a veteran of the Civil War. The 
creature measured 7 feet from tip to tip, girth 3 feet 8 
inches, forearm 22 inches, height 3 feet 8 inches and 
weight 182 pounds. It was killed by a shotgun in a dense 
thicket of spruces in the town of Barnard. "The painter" 
had killed two sheep the night previous to his taking off. 
This Vermont "painter" we also call catamount, and it 
is identical with the mountain lions recently killed by our 
sportsman Vice-President and with the puma of South 
America. Jno. W. Titcomb. 
