BIO 
PUREST AND STREAM. 
[Dec 17, 1904' 
shores re-echoing his wild cry. I hastily planted the 
camera, pointing along the path to the nest, jumped 
into the canoe and paddled off. As soon as the point 
of the island hid the craft, I doubled and drew the bass- 
wood up on the further shore and crept to my well- 
concealed "hide," knowing from previous experience 
that he would come ashore if he was sure the enemy 
had left. . . ■ 
Watching through the vines^ I saw him coming closer 
every dive. Once within gunshot of the shore, he 
swam along and carefully peeped— no other word will 
express this clever action— around the corner of the 
island. Apparently satisfied all was well, he swam back, 
and from where I crouched I could hear him coming 
through the dry vines and grasses; straight at me he 
came until within eight feet of the camera. As the 
hunter makes a shot straight at his game, so I shot 
mine, and, truly, gun never gave keener feeling. At 
the click of the shutter the big bird turned and ran and 
swam out to his mate, where, with many a low call and 
loud eerie screech, he told her all. 
Not wishing to "snap" the nest until the second egg 
was laid, with well-filled sail the canoe rapidly sped 
home, pursued by the maniacal laughter of the two 
great birds as they rose and fell on the foam-crested 
waves of the lake. 
Several days elapsed before the canoe grated on the 
pebbles of the little island. The female at once left the 
from, and as he had jumped to his feet in a blinding 
flash with the nerve-racking scream echoing in his half- 
awakened mind, I did not wonder he thought it was 
supernatural. !| - I 
But it is in the fall the strange habits of the great 
northern diver are best displayed, decoying off the 
points of the island. Well hidden behind the ''bough- 
house" you will see one of these great birds swimming 
and diving in mid-lake. After a while it discovers the 
flock of decoys, and so great is its bump of curiosity, 
that it is not satisfied until it has visited and found out 
all about the wooden ducks. By long dives it 
cautiously approaches the point, when about ten yards 
outside the flock it stops and, with bill flat on the water 
and neck stretched out like a snake's, it remains per- 
fectly still, intently eyeing the decoys. Down with a 
dive so true that hardly a ripple is left behind, it goes 
and pokes its sharp, bill right among the flock. The 
unnatural stillness awes it for a moment, and then it 
slowly swims with body still submerged to the nearest 
duck, with its bright eyes fixed on the counterfeit bird, 
and every feather on its head erect, it attacks it from 
behind, picking vigorously at it. The non-resistance 
seems to alarm it, for down it plunges once more, only 
to renew the attack on the next bird it approaches; 
but just stick your head up over the "hide" if you want 
to cause the visitor to disappear and not return to the 
surface until it is three or four hundred yards out. 
lions occur as little islands throughout the Hudsonian 
/one, sometimes only a few acres in extent, or again 
covering several square miles. The plants and mammals 
tell the story, and even the natives follow the climate 
of their race. Thus the true Eskimo extend down the 
coast of Behring Sea to the vicinity of Nushagak, and are 
represented on the peninsula by Aleuts, while Indians 
derived from the Athabascan stock occupy the territory 
assigned to the Hudsonian. Plate VII. shows a map 
giving the life zones and distributions of coniferous trees. 
Among the specimens collected by Mr. Osgood and his 
party were a number of species of large game. One of 
these believed to be now on the point of extinction is 
Grant's caribou (Rangifer granti Allen), of which Mr. 
Osgood says: 
"Signs of caribou were seen at the upper end of Lake 
Clark, along the Chulitna and Kakhtil rivers, and near 
Becharof Lake. The animals were formerly very 
abundant in all this region, but are now much reduced in 
numbers. Their distribution, however, is undoubtedly 
continuous from tne peninsula to the mainland of Alaska 
by way of the region of lakes Iliamna and Clark, and the 
idea that the supposed species granti is entirely isolated 
from the other caribou of Alaska is unquestionably 
erroneous. The few tracks of caribou seen were those 
of solitary individuals, or of very small bands of five or 
six. Several caribou were killed by natives in July, 1902, 
some twenty miles northwest of Keejik, Lake Clark. One 
THE LOON AT HOME. 
Photograph by Bonnycastle Dale. 
nest and swam away from the shore, calling loudly for 
her mate, as before the cry was answered almost at 
once. No doubt he had followed the canoe for miles 
up the lake, and was even now close beside the mother 
bird, listening to her story of alarm. As the plans of 
the previous day had worked so well, they were all 
repeated, and like a rehersal of a play, he repeated his. 
Up the little path, with body held erect on his clumsy 
feet set so far behind, he waddled, every moment 
glancing suspiciously from side to side. At last he was 
just where I wanted him, and if he couldn't hear my 
heart beat he was stone deaf. At the metallic click of 
the shutter he threw his head up, looked a moment, and 
then rapidly waddled back to the water, to join his 
lady and again tell her of that unusual noise. 
As there was still only one egg, it looked as if she 
was an old bird and would only lay one, or, for some 
reason completely beyond me, one was to be the total 
of this hatch; so taking advantage of a vagrant shaft 
of sunlight, the camera "clicked" once more, and my 
Grape Island work was done, for it seemed th; female 
would not aproach the nest until assured by the male 
that all was well. . , . 
One month later, before a brisk south wind, the 
canoe flew around the north point of Grape, and now 
there were three loons in the water, one, the size of a 
sandpiper, instantly dived with never a ripple; the 
beautifully marked male, with his black and white 
throat band and dark green head, threw his bill up and, 
with a short screech, dived beneath; the female, a 
handsome big bird, came straight at the canoe, flutter- 
ing and diving, and once she came up within a paddle 
length. I was making heroic endeavors to get the 
sail down and the camera 'ifeady, but by this time 
canoe, birds and all had drifted into rough water, and 
the loons were completely lost to sight. The young- 
one was as graceful a little bird on the water as a 
teal, and its dives were literally clean out of sight. 
On all these northern lakes a pair or two of these 
interesting birds bring forth their young, their wild, 
shy habits keeping them almost unseen. All through 
the summer the long wild cry is heard. One night, re- 
turning from a concert at Hiawatha (Ojibway Village) 
before a fair wind, but under a sky black and gloomy 
with heavy thunder clouds, the canoe ran full tilt into 
one of these big birds, evidently asleep on the lake. 
With a mighty splash and a cry so full of throbbing 
terror, it disappeared in the darkness, and only in- 
voluntary balance on my part saved the canoe from 
upsetting. As my chum, asleep in the bow, rose at 
the wild cry and stood erect in the bounding craft, my 
nerves were tingling, and a vivid flash of lightning dis- 
closed our pallid faces to one another. He sank back 
into his place, asking what it was, and, although I 
knew, I could not tell him, so badly had it upset me. 
The storm struck us with full force, and it took all I 
knew and a little more— which is luck— to guide the 
darting canoe safely over those wild miles to the 
sheltered bay at camp. Here, in the darkness, paddling 
under the great pines, he asked me where the cry came 
One of these clever divers got the anchor line of one 
of my decoys tangled around its wing through over 
zealous examination of the flock. I watched the fight 
with interest, and as the big whistle-wing was made of 
cedar and very light, it acted as a sort of life preserver 
to the thoroughly exasperated bird. Every _ time the 
loon came up the decoy popped up beside in a truly 
maddening manner. I have always thought the loon 
mistook it for a fair up and down fight now, for the 
way it let into that wooden shape with bill and wings 
was a caution. To add to its alarm, I stood up at 
this point of the conflict, intent on rescuing the decoy 
before it was too far out in the lake. The canoe afloat, 
a few strokes put me right in the battle, the bird, en- 
cumbered as it was, could still dive a few yards. Stand- 
ing up, the tell-tale bubbles showed me the way; but 
the line was passing around the wing until the bird 
and decoy were separated by its full length. At last 
a mighty struggle, and the piece of lead was lost; the 
end of the line slipped through and the bird escaped, 
although I had once touched its back as it dived. 
Many are the odd experiences with these birds told 
around the "shanty" fire, when the nipping November 
winds are blowing. It is possible for three good pad- 
dlers in three canoes to tire one of these great swimmers 
out; but as we never shoot them, they are seldom 
caught. With guns and three canoes it would simply be 
slaughter, as they cannot take wing unless a fairly 
strong wind is blowing. The best way to hunt them 
is with a 4x5 Bullet — truly the camera is mightier than 
the gun. * Bonnycastle Dale. 
Some Life of the Alaska Peninsula. 
Number twenty-four of North American Fauna, the 
publication of the Biological Survey, under the charge 
of Dr. C. Hart Merriam, contains an interesting paper on 
Alaska. It is by Mr. Wilfred H. Osgood, an assistant in 
the Biological Survey, whose previous experience in 
northern explorations have especialj^y fitted him to do 
work such as this. 
The present paper contains an account of a trip made 
during the latter part of the summer and the fall of 1902 
to the base of the Alaska Peninsula. This was crossed, 
work was done on both coasts — that is to say, 011 the 
north Pacific coast and that of Behring Sea, as well as 
some work in the interior. Travel was chiefly by canoe, 
but the weather being bad less ground was covered than 
had been hoped. The route, as shown in the sketch map 
given on Plate 1, from Cook Inlet to Lake Iliamna, down 
the Nushagak River to Bristol, across the peninsula and 
Shell ikoff Straits to Karluk and Kadiak, and then to the 
Kenai Peninsula and home._ 
A full account of the region traversed, and many pho- 
tographs, give a capital idea of the country, much of 
which is bald and treeless, though in the eastern portion 
there are white spruces, many of which are fifty feet high 
and a foot and a half in diameter. The Hudsonian and 
Arctic life zones here meet and overlap. Tundra condi- 
NEST OF THE LOON. 
Photograph by Bonnycastle Dale. 
was also killed in July by a prospector about fifteen miles 
northeast of Cold Bay. During the winter of 1901 a herd 
of twenty was seen by natives between Becharof _ and 
Ugashik lakes, and several were killed, and in the winter 
of 1902-3, seven were killed on Becharof Lake near 
Smoky Mountain. Two skulls, labeled 'Nushagak,' 
secured by McKay in 1882, are in the National Museum. 
They were doubtless procured by natives at some distance 
from Nushagak. A party of natives, encamped near us at 
the mouth of Becharof Lake, were engaged, in the latter 
part of September, in a caribou hunt. During two weeks 
of steady work six hunters succeeded in killing a total of 
six animals. Their method is a lazy one, but with un- 
limited time gives a fair degree of success. They build 
a small, innocent-looking cairn of rocks on the summit of 
a hill a few hundred yards from their camp, to which one 
of them would go every hour or two and scan the sur- 
rounding country. In case a caribou was sighted, the 
whole party would then go out to stalk it. The animals 
are very light-colored at this season, and are easily seen 
at a long distance. 
"The large herds which occur further west on the 
peninsula do not, as a rule, come as far east as Becharof 
Lake, although small herds are scattered all along. These 
herds are being rapidly killed off both by white men and 
natives, and at the present rate the caribou of the Alaska 
Peninsula bid fair to be exterminated in a comparatively 
short time. Nearly the year round they are brought in 
regularly to all the mining and fishing camps along the 
peninsula, being hunted not only for their flesh, but also 
for their skins, which are in great demand. The_ mail 
steamer which runs along the south side of the peninsula 
takes on a supply of caribou meat on nearly every trip. 
The animals are usually killed in the Port Moller region, 
and the carcasses taken to the mining village of Unga, 
where the steamer makes regular stops. On the October 
run, when I was a passenger, caribou chops, roasts, and 
stews were a feature of the bill of fare. On each trip 
since then a good supply has been on board. On the 
December run, nine carcasses were secured at Unga for 
consumption on the vessel, and in January about the same 
number were consumed, as I am informed from reliable 
sources.. 
[to be continued.] 
"Monarch, the Big Bear " 
Detroit, Dec. 5. — Editor Forest and Stream: There 
can be no doubt of Dr. Robert T. Morris's ability to make 
good his invitation to Messrs. Seton, Brown and Kelly 
to dine with him — provided all hands accept. Possibly 
the Doctor thinks it would be great fun to get those men 
together and see how they would manage to avoid bears 
as a topic of conversation. It would be another triumph 
of tact for him to keep them away from the matter which 
offered an excuse for bringing them together. 
I thank the Doctor for his hospitable invitation, but 
fear I may not find it convenient to be present. 
Allen Kelly. 
