May 20, 1905.3 
FOREST AND STREAM 
893 
Long-spurred Violet is less common but is of especial in- 
trest on account of the shape of the blossoms, each of 
which has a remarkably long nectar spur projecting back- 
ward from the flowers. 
I know of few families of wild flowers the study of 
which is more likely to be of fascinating interest than 
that of the Violets. In every locality many species grow, 
so that one can find near at hand abundance of material 
for beginning the study. The plants are easily trans- 
planted to the wild garden, and most of the species may 
be purchased of dealers in wild flowering plants, so that 
one could very easily develop a living collection of many 
sorts. 
In addition to the Violets the later weeks in May bring 
forth a host of beautiful blossoms. Over a wide range 
the May Apple or Wild Mandrake is known to every one 
on account of the curious umbrella-like leaves and the 
good-sized white flower nodding from the fork between 
them. Apparently no nectar is present and the flower 
seems to be seldom visited by insects. 
Another conspicuous flower of the late spring season 
is the Golden Ragwort, which grows in great abundance 
in wet meadows and along small streams. It is a com- 
posite blossom, the ray florets being clear yellow and 
the central florets orange yellow. The flowers have a 
distinct and rather pleasing odor. 
The Wood Betony, Pedicularis lousewortj or Beef- 
steak plant, as it is variously known, is a low-growing 
plant, generally found in rather dry fields, with its blos- 
soms in compact heads. The flowers are bent at the 
outer ends and so arranged in spirals that when a bum- 
ble bee alights upon the lowest blossom it can easily and 
rapidly visit them all. The structure of the flower 
renders cross-pollination by such visitors almost certain. 
"Farmers once believed that after their sheep fed on the 
foliage of this group of plants," writes Neltje Blanchan, 
BUNCH-BERRY. 
"a skin disease, produced by a certain tiny louse {Pedi- 
culus), would attack them — hence our innocent Betony's 
repellant name of Lousewort." 
Along the banks of your favorite trout streams you 
are likely to find those beds of Fringed Polygalas which 
John Burroughs has so aptly said looked like a flock 
of rose-colored butterflies resting after flight. These are 
not, however, especially adapted to pollination by butter- 
flies, being instead especially adapted to bees. By a little 
watching you can easily see one of the large queen 
bumble-bees which are abroad during these May days 
alight upon the mass of fringe at the end of the flower 
and insert her tongue between the petals to suck up the 
nectar. In so doing she depresses the keel and uncov- 
ers the anthers and stigma, thus bringing about the trans- 
fer of pollen from blossom to blossom. In addition to 
these large showy flowers this Polygala develops great 
numbers of inconspicuous whitish blossoms, hidden at 
the surface of the ground. These are the so-called closed 
flowers, which nevertheless produce seed in abundance. 
Every fisherman must have come across the beautiful 
little blossoms of the Twin Flower or Linnsea. In their 
structure these blossoms are of decided interest. If you 
will look at the inside of the corolla, you will find it 
filled with hairs projecting horizontally, while on the 
outside of the flower stalk and the calyx you will find 
great numbers of grandular hairs with viscid tips. These 
are evidently devices for preventing nectar robbery by 
ants and other wingless insects. 
Not far from the fragrant beds of Linnsea you are like- 
ly to find great numbers of the curious flowers of the 
Patridge Vine or Twin-berry. The latter name is due 
to the strange double fruits which _ develop from the 
pairs of white flowers. The blossoms are tubular with 
the inside of the flower furnished with a thicket of hairs 
that prevents the ants from reaching the nectar. The 
blossoms are freely visited by bees which are certain to 
bring about cross-pollination because in some flowers 
the stigma projects and, the stamens are low, while in 
others this condition is reversed. 
Along the roadbeds and in dry fields; the yellow Cinque- 
foils dot the turf with numerous bits of bright color. 
These flowers resemble miniature strawberry blossoms in 
their structure, although the color of the petals is so 
different. Like the strawberry, too, the plant_ spreads 
over the ground by long and slender runners, which often 
produce a thick carpet of plants in fields- and along high- 
ways, the running stems being smooth and almost wire- 
like. ■ 
The Silvery Cinquefoil is at once distmguished by its 
whitened appearance, especially on the smaller stemS: and, 
the lower surface of the leaves. The yellow flowers are 
only about a quarter of an inch in diameter arid are borne ' 
on short, slender stems. Like the common Cinquefoil 
the species is widely distributed over the Northern States 
and Canada. 
Of all the wild flowers of the late spring season none 
are more striking in anoearance or interesting in struc- 
ture than those of the Pitcher Plant or Sarracenia. You 
are likely to find it in some sphagnum bog surrounde'd by 
black spruce and other evergreens. The dull red flowers 
hang downward from the stems a foot or more high in 
a way that immediately attracts your interest. The 
structure of these flowers is unusual, the pistil having a 
most extraordinary development. They are visited by 
bumble-bees which gather the abundant pollen. 
A more abundant blossom, yet one of much interest, is 
the Bunch-berry or Dwarf Cornell, which may be seen 
everywhere in cool woods late in spring or early in sum- 
mer. The white petal-like objects which give the blos- 
som its chief attraction, are really bracts, the true flow- 
ers being crowded together inside these white bracts. 
Report on the Natural History of 
Kiska Island.* 
BY DR. J. HOBART EGBERT, SURGEON U. S. COAST AND GEO- 
DETIC SURVEY. 
{Concluded from page 888.) 
The Fauna of Kiska Island. 
Fishes. — Fish may be said to be plentiful in the 
waters on and about Kiska Island. Practically all the 
small streams that run through the valleys on both 
sides of the island contain brook trout {Scdveiinus 
malma) which, while usually small in size, are numer- 
ous, and afford excellent sport for the angler and ex- 
cellent food for the table. Catches of a hundred trout 
in a few hours are not uncommon. On one occasion, 
while camping on the island, the writer caught for 
breakfast, forty-five trout, running from five to eight 
inches in length, in as many minutes. All were taken 
with flies, and not infrequently two were hooked at a 
single cast. These streams contain only trout — except 
during the salmon run, when many of them also be- 
come the spawning resorts of these larger fishes. 
The fresh-water lakes and ponds of the island ap- 
pear to be devoid of fishes, but in the brackish lakes, or 
lagoons, along the seashore (already noted) are found 
trout, "salmon trout," and various species of salmon. 
Quite plentiful in these bodies of water, is a so-called 
"salmon trout," which is really a speckled trout, or 
charr, and a close relative of those in the fresh-water 
streams. This fish here attains a fair size (three to 
four pounds) arid, as it rises quite readily to the fly, 
affords capital sport for the angler. This trout also 
sometimes ascends the fresh-water , streams, especially 
during the season when the salmon are spawning, and 
young of this species are commonly found in the lower 
portions of the fresh-water courses. The fact that 
this trout runs up the brooks with the salmon to feed 
on the eggs of the latter, rather than to spawn itself, 
is shown by the readiness with which it takes bait or 
fly at such times — when wielded by the cautious angler. 
It is worthy of mention, that while these charr of 
the lagoons are apparently strong, healthy fishes, not 
a few of those caught, both with hook and seine, in 
the earlier part of the summer, contain neumatoid 
Entozoa in the lower alimentary tract — some having 
an enormous number. 
But the fish in the seaboard lakes are most easily taken 
with the seine. On one occasion, a boatload of fish — esti- 
mated to number over a thousand, and consisting of the 
so-called "salmon trout" just mentioned, steelheads 
(Salmo gairdneri), and a few blueback salmon {Oncor- 
hynchus nerka) — was taken in a single haul of the seine 
from the brackish pond at the head of Kiska Harbor. 
When the salmon come into the fresh-water streams 
they may be readily taken with net, spear, or gig. Al- 
though no very large runs of salmon were noted on Kiska 
Island this season, quite a number of humpbacks {On- 
corhyfichus gorbuscha) and sock-eyes {Oncorhynchus 
nerka) were taken from the fresh-water courses, together 
with some dog salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) and a few 
silver salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch). The salmon did 
not appear in the fresh-water streams of the island this 
year until rather late in the season — they being first ob- 
served Aug. II. 
Of the strictly salt water fishes there are many in the 
waters about Kiska Island. The rocky shores furnish 
sea bass, kelp fish and rock cod; the bays yield plaice in 
abundance and also give shelter to injured and sickly cod, 
which take the hook freely enough to disgust the angler; 
while the straits and deeper waters yield cod, halibut and 
salmon in season. A number of halibut were caught 
from the Patterson while anchored in Kiska Harbor — 
the largest weighing eighty-five pounds; while a halibut 
weighing 196 pounds was caught in one of the ap- 
proaches to the harbor. 
Birds. — The chief game birds of Kiska Island are the 
Pacific eider (Somateria v-nigra), the green-wing teal 
, (Nettion carolinense), the goose, the ptarmigan (Lago- 
pus rupcstris townsendi) . The northern phalarope (Pha- 
laropus lohatus) inhabits the marshes during the sum- 
mer months, and the Aleutian sandpiper (Arquatella 
couesi) is found both along the seashore and on bare, 
rocky mountain tops. Two^ additional species of duck 
were observed, though apparently transient visitors. The 
"oyster catcher {Hcematopus bachmani) is also eaten. 
Both the eider duck and green-wing teal nest and rear 
their young on the island. The former belong more 
strictly to the sea, and the latter frequent most common- 
ly the fresh-water marshes along the shore. No large 
flocks of teal were observed — they usually being found 
in pairs or, at most, families or broods. By the first of 
September the young are sufficiently grown to- fly, and 
afford toothsome food. The eiders are more gregarious, 
being usually found in groups or flocks — either upon the 
wing or, more commonly, swimming along the rocky 
shores or in some secluded bay, or congregated upon a 
sandy beach. When the young broods are afloat the 
gregarious tendency is still in evidence, for one will fre- 
quently see two, three, or more broods, with their re- 
*Published by permission of the Superintendent U, S. Coast 
arid Geodetic Survey. 
spective mothers, swimming about together. These little 
fellows take early to the water and are skillful swimmers, 
divers and runners long before the primaries of their 
wings appear and flying becomes possible. 
There plainly were a large number of female eiders 
that were not occupied this season with rearing families, 
and it was also observed that — during the nesting season, 
at least — those ducks and the drakes flocked separately. 
Eiders were found nesting during the month of July. 
July 9 the writer found two nests with eggs not yet in- 
cubated, and as late as July 27 a nest with eggs was 
discovered. Some broods, however, were hatched earlier, 
for as early as July 20 two broods of young were ob- 
served afloat. As in the colder more northern regions, 
the eider here lines her nest and protects her eggs and 
nestlings with down plucked from her own body. 
Very few geese were seen on the island until the latter 
part of August, when the young were marshalled for 
flight and from which time until the departure of the 
Patterson from the island large flocks were almost daily 
observed, either on the wing or stalking about some 
grassy hillside or mountain top. That the geese nest on 
the island was evinced by the finding and capture on 
Aug. 2 of nine three-quarter grown goslings. They evi- 
dently constituted two broods and were found, together 
with some older birds, on a high grassy bluff near the 
northeastern end of the island. They were kept alive 
aboard the Patterson nearly two months and thrived well 
in captivity. 
Ptarmigan, while fairly numerous, can hardly be said 
to be plentiful on Kiska Island. Nesting birds were ob- 
served during the month of July, and Aug. 2 a brood of 
young birds, scarcely larger than nestlings, was found. 
The young are much like young ruffed grouse, and also 
resemble in color and "peep" brown leghorn chicks. By 
September, when the young are quite grown, the gregari- 
ous broods fall rather easy prey to the hunter. During 
the second ascent of the big mountain, a ptarmigan was 
seen within two hundred feet of the summit of the moun- 
tain. Their propensity to follow the ascent of the snow 
line, with the advance of summer, is especially noted in 
certain localities. 
Three or four species of passerine birds may be said to 
. A KISKA ISLAND BABY. 
Photo by Mr. Paul C. Whitney. 
comprise the song birds of Kiska Island. These birds 
are small and, with the exception 'of one species — the 
Pribilof snowflake (Passerinus nivalis townsendi) , 
the male of which is notable for white plumage — incon- 
spicuous. Neither are they remarkable for their song. 
The Raptores are represented by the eagles— which are 
quite numerous — and two or three species of hawks. A 
raven — common throughout the Aleutian Islands and 
notable for its habit of "tumbling" in the air while utter- 
ing its rather liquid call — and a pretty little wren that is 
found among the rocks along the beach, practically com- 
plete the list of land birds of Kiska Island. 
The aquatic birds are those of the Aleutians generally. 
They include, in addition to the ducks and geese, the 
gulls, several species of divers and loons, sea parrots 
(puffin), shags (cormorant), and two species of Mother 
Carey's chickens (petrel) — Oceanodroma furcata and O. 
leucorhoa — of the Order Tubinares— birds notable for 
having a separate tubular nostril surmounting the su- 
perior mandible, a pronounced musky odor, and for fly- 
ing almost entirely by night or in dark, stormy weather. 
To this list might be added the "oyster catcher," or 
"beach hen," which, though not a swimmer, is always 
found about the salt water. 
Insects. — The insects of Kiska Island are few and, 
aside from an occasional swarm of gnats about marshy 
ground in the warmest weather, inconspicuous. A few 
small trachelia beetles of the genus meloe, a single spe- 
cies of Rynchophora (weevil), and a few minute uniden- 
tified forms, among the Colecptera ; a few small homely 
moths, among the Lepidoptera; a small variety of dip- 
terous insects — represented by gnats, some vegetable 
feeding flies, and a few mosquitoes — among the Hemip- 
tera; and several species of Mallophaga (bird lice), 
found parasitic on eagles, ducks and other lairds, com- 
prise the writer's list of the Insecta. 
Two varieties of Arachnida — forms' closely allied to the 
Insecta — may also be here noted. They are spiders 
(Araneida) and mites (Acarina). The former are found 
among the mosses which cover the ground, while num- 
bers of the latter — small of size and red of color — in- 
habit the beaches. 
Crustaceans, Mollusks, etc. — Among the Crustacea the 
following were observed: Small red hermit crabs (Pa- 
guridse), inhabiting the shells of certain barnacles of the 
sessile type (Balanidse), were found in Kiska Harbor; a 
few sand-hoppers (Talitrus locusta) were dug from the 
sand of the shore of the harbor; and large numbers of 
a species of shrimp-like Amphipoda, resembling Gamma- 
rus pulex, were found in shallow water on the sandy bot- 
toms of the lagoons — where they were fed upon by both 
birds and fishes. Two crustaceans of the order Isopoda 
were observed — one, presumably, Anilocrus, was found 
parasitic on the cod caught in Kiska Harbor; while a 
