128 
FOREST AND STREAM 
March, 1920 
all their catch, so they take their surplus 
to the fish dealer, who will always buy 
their fish, and so they develop into fishers 
for market, and continue, finding it very 
profitable, with all the pleasure of angl- 
ing. On Monday, December 29th, three 
men, from Topeka, Kansas, surf-casting 
from the ocean beach, caught over 600 
pounds of blue-fish, for which a dealer 
paid them above $40.00; and another 
from Chicago, with one from Peabody, 
Kansas; partners, surf -casting near the 
Topeka men, caught nearly 500 pounds of 
blue-fish; each and all of them fishing 
with rod, reel, and medium sized lines. 
During the .same week, another angler, 
for four winters a resident of Stuart, 
trolling every day in the ocean, near the 
inlet, or mouth of the St. Lucie River, 
with hand line and squid-of-tin bait, 
caught enough Spanish mackerel, to 
bring him over $300.00 for his week of 
trolling. Have these persons lost caste 
as anglers? 
FAWNS 
To the Editor of Forest and Stream: 
I ENCLOSE a picture of a pair of 
A fawns that I am raising by hand. 
They nursed from a bottle just like ba- 
bies. I fed them all the milk they 
would drink three times a day until they 
were old enough to eat bran and chops 
mixed. They have done very well and 
have made a nice growth this summer. 
This picture was taken when they were 
three months old. 
Clarence G. Eaton, Oklahoma. 
DUCKS AND GULLS 
To the Editor of Forest and Stream: 
1 WAS particularly interested in Mr. 
Harlow’s letter published in the Janu- 
ary issue, in reference to ducks and their 
relation with gulls. As a long experi- 
enced nature student and hunter on 
Shinnecock Bay and adjacent waters, 
this question has been put before me re- 
peatedly by hunters and sportsmen, 
whose attention and comment have been 
drawn by experiences similar to Mr. 
Harlow’s. 
From personal studies and observa- 
tions, I believe that without doubt Mr. 
Harlow’s contention that the gulls 
frightened the ducks is absolutely cor- 
rect. I cannot imagine why the guides 
to whom he referred the question thought 
otherwise, unless it is because many of 
these old guides and hunters fail to look 
upon the birds and their characteristics 
in the true light of the naturalist. They 
are not interested enough in this side 
of the story to reason out, from careful 
observations, the dictations of nature to 
her feathered creatures ir behalf of their 
protection and presei’vation. However, 
it requires no scientific investigation to 
explain the action of the ducks in this 
instance. Nearly all of the ducks, with 
the exception of the mergansers and 
scooters, exhibit this same apprenhension 
of gulls, and it is intensely interesting 
to note when, why and on what occa- 
sions this perturbation among the wild 
fowl is displayed. 
On a calm, sunny day last fall — one 
of those days when the peculiar condi- 
tion of the atmosphei’e makes an ex- 
panse of water a half mile wide appear 
to be five, and a gull at a little distance 
on the water seems as big as a boat — I 
was lying behind my decoys on the point, 
enjoying the delightfully mild weather 
and watching a group of greater scaups 
(blue bills) feeding out in the channel. 
At intervals a lone gull off on the bay 
would scream out his full, long drawn 
notes of challenge, which would echo 
over the still water for miles. Presently 
one of the gulls, apparently attracted 
by the diving of the ducks, and too lazy 
to fly in such drowsy weather, swam 
slowly over to the ducks, which showed 
no signs of disturbance whatever. But 
in a few moments when another gull 
came leisurely flying over the heads of 
the ducks they scattered and flew in every 
direction, those more distant from the 
gull diving and swimming frantically in 
the opposite direction ; but soon all gath- 
ered again and returned to their feed- 
ing place. 
I have also noted in similar experi- 
ences with both the scaup and black 
ducks that the young, dark colored gulls 
seem to frighten them more and cause 
a greater agitation among them, as a 
rule, than the white ones usually do. 
Now, since the gulls, showing no 
animosity toward the ducks, and fright- 
ening them only when on the wing, and 
particularly when of a dark color, would 
you not naturally conclude that these 
gulls suggested hawks? 
To strengthen my opinion in this re- 
gard, I have noted often that when the 
gulls, in pursuit of fish, congregate in 
localities where numbers of ducks are 
living, the ducks at first move away but 
soon become accustomed to the gulls and 
allow a comparatively close approach 
without being in the least disconcerted. 
On the contrary, let a lone gull appear 
among a flock of ducks in a locality not 
recently frequented by any great num- 
ber of gulls and a panic will result. It 
will be noted that the hawks invariably 
search for their prey alone or in pairs 
at the most, and are never gregarious 
except in time of migration. 
In the case of the mergansers it is 
likely becaues of their fish-eating habits 
which causes them to be more associated 
with the gulls and therefore show less 
concern at their presence; or they may 
have a keener sense of discrimination 
and be able to detect the difference in a 
hawk. 
I cannot truly say which, but the 
former would seem more probable. 
The Canada goose also shares the 
common mistrust in gulls, but seldom 
takes flight at their approach, giving 
vent to his alarm by flattening his neck 
and head along the water and uttering a 
series of harsh, cackling notes, shorter 
and more emphatic than his usual call: 
Cecil F. Carter, New York. 
To the Editor of Forest and Stream: 
T WAS interested in the letter by Mr. 
1 F. D. Harlow on “Ducks and Gulls,’’ 
which appeared in your January number. 
Mr. Harlow should have waited until 
he had backed his first observations with 
careful study, and he would have found 
that the old duck hunters were right and 
that other causes frightened the ducks. 
Here on the Sound the ducks pay no at- 
tention to the gulls, but to back my ob- 
servations I asked three good and suc- 
cessful hunters the question, and each 
unhesitatingly said the gulls had no ef- 
fect in frightening the ducks. 
Careful observation with a specific 
purpose in mind, however, is better than 
a casual observation or recollection of 
past events, so I made some more studies 
to verify my opinion that the gulls do 
not frighten the wild ducks. 
On December 28th, 1919, I watched 
two old squaws feed for an hour and an 
old herring gull was swimming around 
with the evident intention of causing the 
ducks to part with some of the food 
they were bringing up from the bottom, 
and except appearing annoyed and swim- 
ming off a little, the ducks paid no at- 
tention to the gull. 
Of course the gull was not flying, but 
on January 17th, 1920, I watched for 
nearly two hours the behavior of the 
ducks and gulls on the Housatonic River. 
With the close of the shooting season the 
scaups or blue-bills, come into the mouth 
of the above river to feed on the small 
mussels that abounded in the river bed. 
W. F. Rightmire, Florida. 
Mr. Eaton feeding his fawns 
