126 
FOREST AND STREAM 
March, 1921 
Photograph by J. S. Stangroom. 
Showing the arc described by the sun during the shortest day of winter at Nome, Alaska 
pale blue air. It was really an unfor- 
getable afternoon. 
The aftermath of a day’s sport is not 
the least of the joys. v Fishing is good 
for the imagination, it stimulates the 
dramatic instincts. In the evening, 
when the time is ripe, some one will be 
willing to tell how the big fish got 
away. Like the mustard seed in the 
parable, a fish story from small begin- 
nings, will grow large ramifications. 
Let those who will, go riding in their 
automobiles and steam yachts, for me let 
there be a boat, congeniality 'and a gen- 
tle breeze where the fish have been 
known to bite recently; there let me 
float with tranquility of mind and in 
close touch with much that is best in 
nature, human or otherwise. 
Edward Longstreth, Penn. 
BLACK DUCKS IN KENTUCKY 
To the Editor of Forest and Stream: 
A S a regular reader of Forest and 
Stream and “American Duck 
Shooting,” by Geo. B. Grinnell, the 
following may interest your readers. 
Recently I have found a number of 
black duck or dusky duck flocks on 
South Elkhorn Creek in Franklin Coun- 
ty, Ky., and I have killed several out 
of each flock. Two weighed about three 
pounds and the others, which were fe- 
males, weighed two and one-half pounds 
and over. Old hunters in this section 
said they did not know this kind of 
duck and had never seen them before. 
I have hunted on the creeks and ponds 
during the past ten years and these are 
the first black ducks found in this coun- 
ty or state. In December, 1919 I killed 
a male merganser on Elkhorn Creek, 
which was another bird not known here 
by local hunters. The coming of these 
birds to this state is probably due to the 
federal regulations prohibiting spring 
shooting. 
Also I have observed many large 
flocks of geese passing over at a great 
height, moving southward, but a gun- 
ner who kills a wild goose in this ter- 
ritory is considered an expert. 
Owing to the streams being very 
shallow this season, due to the dry 
spells of summer and fall, there have 
been but few ducks coming in. They 
probably go to Reelfoot Lake, which is 
only about a hundred miles away. 
Large numbers of wild fowl come here 
in the spring and are driven off by 
hunters, who don’t seem to know about 
the federal law on migratory birds. 
Howard Phillips, Frankfort, Ky. 
THE WINTER SUN AT NOME 
To the Editor of Forest and Stream: 
1 AM enclosing a picture which I took 
at Nome, Alaska, last winter which 
might be of interest to your readers. 
It shows very clearly the arc described 
by the sun on the shortest day in win- 
ter from the time it first appeared 
above the horizon at ten o’clock in the 
morning until it set at two in the after- 
noon. 
I set up my camera behind the town, 
firmly fixed on a tripod, and made an 
exposure of 1/10 of a second just as 
the sun showed above the rim. Then 
I made another exposure of the same 
length of time, a half hour later and 
continued making exposures at half 
hour intervals until the sun disap- 
peared from view. 
J. S. Stangroom, Alaska. 
NATURE CLUBS 
To the Editor of Forest and Stream: 
I READ an editorial entitled “Lets 
Get Together” in your November 
issue. In this you invited suggestions 
as to methods by which the nature lov- 
ers of the country might become an or- 
ganized force, able to take the meas- 
ures necessary for the proper enlight- 
enment of the public and the consequent 
proper appreciation of our wild life. 
We have just effected, in Franklin 
County, the organization of a society 
whose aim is to accomplish what you 
have suggested. I do not believe it will 
be out of place to tell you how we have 
gone about organizing the movement 
and about the work we have set our- 
selves to do. Perhaps we can furnish 
a hint to others. 
Our slogan is OBSERVATION, 
EDUCATION, PRESERVATION: — a 
campaign to sharpen eyes and awaken 
sympathies. Our regulations are sim- 
ple in the extreme: membership open to 
any one in the county over 15 years of 
age who will fill out an application 
blank; dues, a dollar a year, in receipt 
of which a membership certificate is 
given entitling the holder to come to the 
monthly meetings; the meetings them- 
selves an event in the community, with 
special speakers paid for from club 
funds, compelling attendance by interest 
rather than by penalties. An organiza- 
tion committee took charge of the work, 
drew up the prospectus, and had it pub- 
lished; also sent copies of it, with ap- 
plication blanks, to persons known to be 
specially interested; set a date for an 
organization meeting and submitted the 
prospectus at this meeting and had it 
accepted as constitution and by-laws. 
Then the club proceeded to elect its 
officers. No money was handled until 
a treasurer had been duly elected to 
take it. The preliminary expenses were 
about $15. The organization committee 
paid this down, and was reimbursed by 
the club after it was established. 
So far, however, our program only 
included the “grown-up” people who 
happened to be interested. A plan was 
subsequently evolved to interest the ju- 
venile element in the county. At any 
rate we hope it is going to interest them. 
We have written a circular letter to 
every school teacher, with special appeal 
to those in rural schools, asking them, 
first, to join our organization and, sec- 
ondly, to introduce nature study at their 
schools. We suggested that as a way 
of starting an interest in the work, they 
have their pupils put up near the school 
this winter a sort of dinner table for 
the birds; a box where the boys and 
girls may put out crumbs and scraps 
from their lunch boxes and make the ac- 
quaintance of their feathered friends. 
We hope that nature programs will be 
arranged, hikes conducted, and a nature 
calendar posted in each school on which 
shall be kept a record of the birds and 
trees and flowers observed in that par- 
ticular locality. Another plan was to 
offer a monthly prize for the best theme 
written on a nature subject submitted 
by any scholar in the county. 
Now, why can not other counties take 
this up, and maybe alter and improve 
upon it? We are not trying to keep this 
all to ourselves. All we want is the 
credit for our ideas; if the ideas them- 
selves can be used by any one else, I’m 
sure we are glad enough to pass them 
along. That wouldn’t apply, of course, 
to our name and slogan; but otherwise 
we have no selfish motives. We all 
have at heart the same thing — the mak- 
ing and drawing together of nature 
lovers. Fred Ziegler, Jr., 
Greencastle, Penna. 
