462 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Oct. ii, 1913. 
Game Birds in New York State 
T O those who love the birds simply from an 
aesthetic standpoint, to the student who 
wishes to become more familiar with the 
birds, or to the naturalist desiring to make a 
scientific study of the mysteries of bird migra¬ 
tion, there is no better vantage point than along 
the shore of Lake Ontario. It is the main line 
of flight, the aerial highway, of both land and 
water birds in going to and returning from 
their nesting grounds to the North. Some 
species of land birds fly directly across the 
lake, but the great bulk of them follow close¬ 
ly along the shore. In the spring their flight is 
from west to east, and in the fall it is the re¬ 
verse. 
There are over two hundred species of birds 
which may be looked for regularly along Lake 
Ontario during the time of migration, besides 
about twenty other species which may occas¬ 
ionally be found, and twelve which have been 
recorded but a few times, and are very rare. 
Then also there is always the possibility of find¬ 
ing something new. 
There is but a short period between the time 
when the ice first begins to show signs of break¬ 
ing up in the spring and the freezing again in 
the late fall but what some species of birds are 
migrating. Hardly have the late spring migrants 
all passed north before some species are begin¬ 
ning to return on their southern journey. The 
past spring the loons were still seen on the 
lake up to the 15th of June. The bulk of the 
ring-billed and herring gulls did not leave until 
about the 20th of June. By the first of July the 
bronzed grakles were beginning to be seen in 
small flocks, and by the nth the barn swallows 
were gathering in the marshes at evening to 
roost. Most of the young red-winged blackbirds 
had begun to leave the marshes by the 15th. As 
early as the 17th of July the black-crowned 
night herons began to appear, and by the 23d 
they were seen daily. They usually continue to 
straggle along until the latter part of September, 
when the few remaining ones leave for the 
South. 
A few semi-palmated plover and lesser yel- 
lowlegs appeared on July 26. At this time these 
birds had already covered many hundred miles 
of their journey south, as they breed in the far 
north, from the James Bay region almost to the 
Arctic coast. The semi-palmated plover is one 
of the commonest species in the fall, and its 
migrations cover a longer period than any of 
the other shore birds. They are usually found 
along the lake from the latter part of July until 
the 1st of October. 
On the 28th day of July there was a large 
flight of shore birds. Lesser yellowlegs, semi- 
palmated plover, least and semi-palmated sand¬ 
pipers appeared very commonly, together with a 
large flock of pectoral sandpipers, or “grass 
snipe.” All remained more or less common up 
to Sept. 1, when the lesser yellowlegs began to 
leave and the greater yellowlegs to take their 
place. By the 29th of July the Bartramian sand¬ 
pipers, or “upland plover” as they are known 
to most sportsmen, had begun their long journey 
to the plains of Argentina, where they spend the 
By GEORGE P. GUELPH 
winter. They appeared regularly up to the 14th 
of August, when the main flight had passed. 
This bird breeds in a few favorable localities 
in Monroe county. 
Quite a number of Wilson snipe have been 
seen about the marshes throughout the summer, 
and no doubt some have nested here. A soli¬ 
tary turnstone was seen on July 29. The first 
golden plover was seen on Aug. 6, and the first 
black-bellied plover on the 8th. 
On the 5th of August a few Western sand¬ 
pipers made their appearance, and since then 
they have been seen occasionally up to the 1st 
of September. In general appearance they are 
very much like the semi-palmated sandpiper, the 
little sandpiper so common along the lake shore 
during August, but they are of a darker and 
more rusty color and have a longer and stouter 
bill. This western variety breeds in the north¬ 
west coast region of Alaska. During their fall 
migration some of them take an overland trip 
to the Atlantic coast, a few stopping en route 
along the shore of Lake Ontario. Those diminu¬ 
tive sandpipers, hardly larger than sparrows, at 
this early date, were already more than 3,000 
miles in an air line from their breeding grounds. 
The power of flight and the long distances cov¬ 
ered by some of the shore birds during their 
migrations are truly marvelous. 
A few Baird and white-rumped sandpipers 
have been seen, but they are never very com¬ 
mon. But very few sanderlings have yet ap¬ 
peared, the main flight occurring during the lat¬ 
ter part of September and the fore part of 
October. 
Three species of shore birds were observed 
that are of rare or unusual occurrence in West-' 
ern New York—the Hudsonian curlew, willet 
and knot. A single Hudsonian curlew was seen 
on July 28 and four willet on Aug. 9 A single 
willet was seen on Aug. 24, and it remained 
near the same locality for a number of days. 
Possibly it was a straggler from those previous¬ 
ly seen. Willet are fairly common on the 
Atlantic coast, more so in the South, but their 
occurrence on Lake Ontario is very rare. A 
single specimen of the knot (Tringa canutus) 
appeared on Aug. 27 and remained for several 
days. This species was formerly fairly common 
along the Atlantic coast during migration, but 
there are very few instances of its having been 
found in Western New York, and its occurrence, 
with that of the willet, are very rare bird rec¬ 
ords for Monroe county. The knot breeds far 
into the Arctic regions, both in America and 
in the Old World. In America it migrates south 
in winter .to the extreme southern part of South 
America. Its scientific name Canutus pertains 
to Canute, King of Denmark, with whom this 
bird was a favorite. 
A blue goose, one of the rarest of the larger 
waterfowl to visit 1 this locality, was recorded 
here April 5. There are but six records of its 
having ever been observed before in this State, 
four of which are from Long Island and two 
from the eastern part of the State, which leaves 
this as the only record of the occurrence of this 
species in Western New York. 
Gallinules, or mud hens, are more plentiful 
this season than for a number of years, and 
numerous broods of young are to be found in 
nearly all the marshes along the lake. There 
was unusually high water in the lake this year, 
and as a result the marshes and flats have been 
flooded, making ideal conditions for marsh or 
shore birds. 
Blackduck have been quite common through¬ 
out the season, and no doubt some have nested 
here. Some good sized flocks of ducks are now 
coming in, and there will no doubt be some 
good shooting when the season opens. The 
early ducks are more plentiful now than they 
have been for some time past. 
Bird life in general has been very plentiful 
along the lake this season, and the prospects for 
an early increase in the ranks of our feathered 
friends are very bright. 
A Field For Naturalists. 
Corpus Christi, Texas, Sept. 18. —Editor 
Forest and Stream: This is a good game coun¬ 
try. If I knew the correct names of the fish 
and game to be found here, I would make out 
a list, but I only know the local names, and 
they are generally incorrect. Roseate spoonbills 
are called flamingoes; avocets are called tilters; 
cormorants are water turkeys; coots are poule 
d’eaus, etc. In the winter there are myriads of 
waterfowl from the North, ranging from teal 
down to swan in size, and from the jacksnipe 
to the trumpeter crane. We have no end to 
the varieties of fish, of which I know the names 
of only the common kinds, such as redfish, 
sheepshead, flounder, pompano, trout (weakfish), 
Spanish mackerel, perch, drums, grand ecaille, 
jewfish (for which I would like to know the 
proper name), stingray, croaker, sharks, gars, 
sawfish, porpoises, etc. 
We have a new fish for these waters called 
a pike. It is similar in shape and appearance 
to the alligator gar, but it is a salt water fish 
entirely. I never before heard of a salt water 
pike. Sam. M. Johnson. 
Drumming of Spruce Partridge. 
The Canada grouse is commonly known in 
Canada as the “spruce partridge.” It is a beau¬ 
tiful bird, especially the cock, and is naturally 
quite tame and easily domesticated. It is alto¬ 
gether different in this last respect from the 
ruffed grouse, or “birch partridge.” The drum¬ 
ming of the ruffed grouse has at various times 
served as a subject of animated discussion in 
these columns, but we do not remember to have 
seen the drumming of the Canadian grouse re¬ 
ferred to, except on one occasion by our cor¬ 
respondent, Penobscot. One of our New Bruns¬ 
wick correspondents who is a professional trap¬ 
per, says the sound is produced by the cock bird 
flying almost perpendicularly in the air against 
some spruce bush. He says: “I have often 
heard and seen them, though the noise can 
hardly be called drumming. It is thus the sound 
produced which calls the bird of the other sex.” 
