378 
nothing equals the moniak’s perseverance, and 
although it is easy, from the manner in which 
the nest is made and the ever-decreasing num¬ 
ber of eggs it contains, to observe the discour¬ 
agement of the poor bird, it renews its efforts 
four successive times. The second lot does not 
exceed four eggs and the down is much less 
abundant. The third yields two or three and 
there is no down to speak of. The fourth and 
last consists of one egg deposited on the soil, 
anywhere, without grass, without down and 
sometimes on the naked rock. During all this 
time of deception and sorrow the male flies 
about around the spot occupied by the female 
bird, seeming gay, plump and satisfied. The 
sorrows of its mate do not appear to worry it 
and it seems quite pleased with her usefulness, 
which interests her alone, as the male bird takes 
no share in the hatching and I have never been 
able to verify the statement made by some nat¬ 
uralists that it plucks its own breast to cover the 
eggs laid by its mate. As soon as the last egg is 
laid it flies off to join the other male birds, 
which, like it, have no occupation. 
I cannot say how long the eggs take to hatch, 
but I think it is twenty-five days. The little ones 
come out quite strong and are able at once to 
escape to a distance of some steps from the 
nest when danger threatens. On the third day 
they get to the sea, where man and the great 
black-backed gull are their enemies. To protect 
their families against these enemies, two moth¬ 
ers join together in devotedness and watchful¬ 
ness over their broods. The groups formed by 
this association nearly always consist of eleven 
or twelve individuals at the outside, viz: nine or 
ten ducklings and the two mothers, each of which 
plays a separate role. One guides the little birds 
far from danger, while the other affronts it and 
seeks to divert it by attracting attention and 
blows to itself, and fighting with wing and beak, 
flying around the hunter, diving under his boat, 
trying to convince him how easy it would be to 
catch it if he would only give up his pursuit of 
the young ones. If he is cruel enough to kill 
the poor bird, he soon catches the little ones 
which dive with a vigor and perseverance really 
wonderful in such young birds. 
The latter grow rapidly, and although hatched 
late, begin to fly in the early days of autumn. 
In October the scattered families reunite and 
concentrate at certain special places in the Gulf. 
These assemblages are at times enormous. I 
have seen eider-ducks and divers rise in such 
large numbers near Rac islet, three-quarters of 
a mile from Puffin or Perroquet’s Island, where 
I then resided, that one end of the flock reached 
the west point of my rock, while the other end 
was still on the battures or fore-shore of Rac 
islet. 
When winter is in full swing ice forms very 
quickly and the falling snow increases its thick¬ 
ness. The floes are formed, join together and 
soon cover the surface of the water as far as the 
eye can see. Nothing remains in view but a field of 
ice of unknown extent, intersected here and there 
by salt water lakes. These lakes, nearly always 
situated near islands and shoals, are caused by 
the strength of the current and by submarine 
springs. These privileged spots are occupied by 
the eider and golden-eyed ducks during the rigor¬ 
ous season; nothing hinders them from diving 
in search of the molluscs, varech or Crustacea 
which serve as their food. 
FOREST AND STREAM 
It is very easy to understand that it is very 
difficult to hunt them during severe cold 
weather, but it is different in the spring. The 
lakes which served as refuges gradually grow in 
size under the influence of the currents and of 
the temperature, the ice-floes break up and move 
away. From that moment the other ducks dis¬ 
appear and the eiders go to their summer resorts 
in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The latter nearly 
always follow the same route and large flocks 
of eider-ducks fly at the same dates over the 
same points of the shore or over the same 
islands. At low tide the hunters hide on these 
points and shoot the unfortunate travelers, whose 
flesh they probably appreciate more than their 
feathers. This migration in numbers lasts about 
ten days, then it decreases rapidly and is en¬ 
tirely over at the end of a month. 
It is an easy matter to shoot an eider-duck 
and one not very worthy of a sportsman, as its 
flight is rather heavy and straight, and it offers 
a large enough target for an indifferent marks¬ 
man to kill or wound one at every shot. 
Everyone knows eider-down, so compressible, 
so light and so warm. The best is taken from 
the nests, then comes that plucked from the 
breast of the still palpitating bird, finally the 
last and very inferior quality is that taken from 
the bird which has been dead and cold for some 
hours. The quantity found in different nests 
T HE various game societies throughout the 
country, and the public generally con¬ 
cerned in the conservation of our native 
wild birds and animals, are awaiting with in- 
Old Jim Jacobs, Full Blood Seneca Indian, Who, 
in 1867, Killed the Last Native Elk 
in Pennsylvania. 
terest the results of experiments now being con¬ 
ducted of transplanting elk from the overstocked 
varies, even at the first laying; some contain an 
ounce, others a half ounce and others again a 
quarter of an ounce. The down may be removed 
from the nest without injuring it by taking care 
not to touch what lies on the bottom and on 
which the eggs are laid, and it is easy to do so, 
as it is always soiled by the dejections of the 
hatching bird when too suddenly frightened 
away. The trade in eider-down is a prosperous 
one in regions less favored as regards the raw 
material than our Canadian Labrador. There 
is nothing easier than to bring the eider-duck 
into a sufficient state of domestication to allow 
of its being used for the eider-down trade. All 
that would be necessary would be to protect the 
places where it builds its nests. . These regions 
are pretty numerous and are to be found at 
various points along the Canadian Labrador 
coast. I might specially mention that portion 
of the archipelago of Mingan which consists of 
Whale, St. Charles, Wood and Puffin Islands 
and the two islands of St. Genevieve, where with 
sufficient capital and careful and methodical 
management, a trade could be started which in 
some years would yield a considerable revenue. 
It is easy to understand that islands close to the 
mainland, with wooded and indented shores, 
would be a favorite nesting place for these birds 
which would soon swarm there in large number* 
if protected against the egg-hunters. 
Yellowstone National Park to ranges in various 
part§ of the country for the purpose of propaga¬ 
tion. This enterprise seems to have struck a 
popular chord, for the Department of the In¬ 
terior, which has jurisdiction over the Park, is 
daily receiving requests for allotments of animals. 
This idea was conceived through conditions 
which existed in the park several years ago. The 
elk, being protected at all seasons of the year, 
increase in numbers quite rapidh-, and at that 
time the herd became so large that their natural 
food supply was inadequate to sustain them dur¬ 
ing the winter months, and, as a consequence, 
many died of starvation. It was no uncommon 
sight to see the white mantle of the snow-covered 
valleys dotted here and there with little dark 
heaps; elk that had made a valiant but hopeless 
fight against the overwhelming pangs of hunger. 
This situation existed also in what is known 
as the Jackson Hole country, which is south of 
the park, in the state of Wyoming. Congress af¬ 
forded some measure of relief to the elk in this 
vicinity, however, by appropriating $20,000 in 
1911 for the purpose of feeding, protecting and 
transferring them to other parts, the work to be 
done under the direction of the Department of 
Agriculture. 
About this time several of the western states 
made application to the Interior Department for 
some of the surplus elk in the park, with a view 
to restocking preserves in them, and as this ap¬ 
peared to open up a logical solution for the 
problem their requests were granted, on condi¬ 
tion that the animals be well protected and cared 
for, the theory being that their ultimate preserva¬ 
tion would be better safeguarded in their new 
homes than if allowed to remain in the park and 
be subjected to the vicissitudes for sustenance 
Elk in the Yellowstone 
By G. C. McClain, Jr. 
