/ $ 6 3 _, 
The winter A was the severest for at least twenty-five years, as evidenced 
by the freezing of the whole of Casco Bay inside the islands. From 300 
to 500 Black Ducks were driven into the inner harbor by the closing of 
their usual feeding grounds among the islands. They congregated near 
Martin’s Point bridge on the Falmouth shore and for several weeks staid 
within two hundred yards of the bridge, flying up at the approach of the 
electric cars which cross the bridge every fifteen minutes. They suffered 
to some extent for food, and corn and other things were thrown on the 
flats for them by kind-hearted persons, who thought the birds were liable 
to starve. Not one of them died, as a matter of fact, except a few whose 
death was doubtless due to flying against the wires which pass over the 
b..dge The, .laid uaUl the Ice began b .,, object, of 
“™“7 ■>"■“>"* »1» wen, there for the pnrpo.e of 
g o unusual a sight.— W. H. Brownson, Portland, Me 
, 3 9 si - 3 
Black Ducks which became very tame.— Four Black Ducks (Anas 
rubripes) have been spending the winter in one of the coves at Had- 
lyme, Conn. The cove has been frozen over with ice from 18 to 24 
inches thick. At the north shore of the cove are two spring holes which are 
near the main road in the town and every day these ducks have been seen 
by a great many people. Late in the afternoon of Feb. 15 I carried to the 
spot about a peck of cracked corn and spread around on the ice and placed 
some in the spring holes, the next morning some crows came and started 
to eat the corn, but the ducks drove them away, they were too much for 
the crows. 
Soon after the grain was placed there, two more ducks arrived, the 
second day two, the third day fifteen, and finally thirty arrived to feed, 
they are very tame allowing one to approach very near before taking flight. 
This shows how tame our wildest birds will become, if not shot at or 
molested.— Arthur W. Brockway, Hadlyme , Conn. 
'A^KxiX.-AjU-19/1-/t. 
