74 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Jan. i8, 1913 
Expedition to the Altai Mountains. 
BY RALEIGH RAINES. 
The zoological expedition to the Altai 
Mountains, Siberia, and Mongolia, organized 
and conducted by the co-operation of the 
United States National Museum with the 
Museum of Comparative Zoology of Harvard 
University, has recently returned to this coun¬ 
try after an especially successful trip of about 
four months’ duration. The expedition was 
under the direction of Dr. Theodore Lyman, of 
Harvard University, through whose interest 
and liberality the expedition was made possible. 
It was the object of the expedition to collect 
the mammals and birds of the Altai Mountains, 
and in this respect the expedition succeeded far 
beyond expectations. Among the mammals 
there have been found several new species and 
subspecies. 
Mr. Ned Hollister represented the National 
Museum, and he has prepared a description of 
the collection which will be mounted in the 
near future. The whole collection includes 
about 750 mammals and birds, among them fine 
specimens of the wild sheep of the Altai reg'on, 
which is the largest known species of sheep, 
together with ibexes, gazelles and other large 
game. There are seven new species comprising 
five rodents, a bat and a weasel. The speci¬ 
mens will be divided equally between the 
Harvard and the National Museum of Zoology. 
The expedition sailed from New York on 
May 22, 1912, for London, then went to St. 
Petersburg, and across country by the Siberian 
Railway to the Obi River, where they boarded 
a steamer and traveled up river for almost 500 
miles to Biisk. Leaving Biisk by tarantass, the 
native carriage, the party journeyed 500 miles 
to the south, to the last Siberian outpost, Kosh- 
Agatch, whence pack horses were taken, and 
the real trip begun into Northen Mongolia. 
The base of operations was a camp located in 
what was practically the center of the Asiatic 
continent. Hunting and trap setting were the 
daily occupations of the members of the party, 
and of course the skinning and preparations of 
the specimens secured. 
In returning, the same general route was 
pursued and the party reached home in the 
latter part of last October. Besides Dr. Lyman 
and Mr. Plollister, the personnel of the expe¬ 
dition included Mr. Conrad Kain, of Vienna, a 
well-known Alpine guide, and actually in the 
field, five native Kalmuks and a train of fourteen 
horses. Mr. Hollister declares that the success 
of the expedition is largely due to the many 
courtesies, extended by the Russian officials of 
St. Petersburg and elsewhere. 
The game was fairly plentiful and the hunt¬ 
ing generally good, the travel attended with the 
usual accommodations of Ithe country. The 
specimens of sheep which are the wild moun¬ 
tain species of the Altai Mountains, are con¬ 
sidered the best trophies secured. While those 
sheep have been known to scientists for almost 
twenty-five years, yet a sufficient number of 
specimens have never been secured heretofore 
to afford opportunity for a complete or extend¬ 
ed study of the species. The sheep are the 
largest known and resemble the domestic sheep 
in color, except for the winter coat, which is 
longer fleece and almost black. 
Notes from Washington. 
Representative Baker, of California, has in¬ 
troduced a bill in the House of Representatives 
providing an appropriation of $65,000 for the 
study of the economic relations of birds to agri¬ 
culture, and to further study the food habits of 
birds and mammals. The bill further provides 
that at least $15,000 of the amount appropriated 
shall be devoted to the study and propagation 
of fur-bearing animals, including the mink and 
marten. The bill, which was referred to the 
Committee on Agriculture, will probably have 
the items included in the next agricultural ap¬ 
propriation bill now being considered in com¬ 
mittee. The appropriation for the present year 
includes the STim of $5,000 for experiments in 
raising the mink and marten, and preparations 
are now being made by the Department of 
Agriculture to begin raising the mink in the 
National Zoological Park, in Washington City, 
and the marten farm has about been located 
in Shoshone county, Idaho, Great interest is 
being manifested in fur farming, to judge by the 
number of inquiries received by the department 
and the favorable notices given the project by 
the press. It is hoped to extend the experi¬ 
ments as fast as developments will permit. 
A Season’s Study. 
Salisbury Point, Mass., Jan. 2. — Editor 
Forest and Stream: I have collected the fol¬ 
lowing records for Northeastern Massachusetts 
which I think you may consider worthy of notice 
in your publication. They are all from Essex 
county. W. D. Carpenter. 
SHOT AND COLLECTED. 
Dec. 5, 1890.—Cock blue-winged teal, Town 
Creek, Salisbury, by Wm. N. Currier. Fat, 
showed no signs of being a “cripple.” 
Nov. 2, 1895.—Sora rail, Indian River 
marshes. Flew, good condition. 
Wm. N. Currier. 
July 5, 1898.—Pomarine jaeger. Merrimac 
River. Specimen preserved. (Said to have been 
previously recorded by taxidermist.) 
Wm. N. Currier. 
Dec. 14, 1912.—Cock green-winged teal. 
Rather poor condition. Dropped into a pond 
with live decoys near Benj. P. P. Moseley’s gun¬ 
ning shanty on Plum Island River marshes. 
Specimen preserved. Carl Nelson. 
Dec. 7, 1897.—Wilson’s snipe in green spring 
hole among the snow, near Artichoke River. 
George Stevens. 
(Mr. Stevens believes that it was prepared! 
to spend the winter at this spot. Not a “crip¬ 
ple.”) 
“Between Dec. 25, 1911, and Jan. i, 1912.”— 
A pair of Wilson’s snipe on river bank, New- 
buryport. Both collected. One fell dead upon 
a large cake of ice. Howard Hurly. 
All the above were collected. 
A kingfisher has been twice seen in winter, 
as follows: 
Jan. I, 1912.—Under the Essex Merrimac 
chain bridge. “So full of herring that it could 
hardly fly.” . Wm. N. Currier. 
Dec. 27, 1912.—Powow River, Salisbury 
Point. I saw it very distinctly and at close hand, 
scared it off its perches and caused it to give 
its rattling cry. Followed it along for some dis¬ 
tance. W. D. Carpenter. 
Approaching Extinction of Birds of 
Paradise. 
The long-plumaged birds of paradise pe¬ 
culiar to the Island of Jobi were once numerous, 
but in 1906, despite active search by natives, only 
seventy skins were shipped from the island. The 
red bird of paradise of the Island of Waigiou 
has become very rare and will probably soon be 
extinct. Each year every full plumaged male 
of the great bird of paradise, found only in the 
Ayru Islands, is. killed, and the species is rapidly 
nearing extinction. The blue bird of paradise 
has become so scarce that twenty hunters were 
able to find only three specimens in a three 
weeks’ search over a large part of its limited 
home. Some years previous to 1907 two Chinese 
traders in Humboldt Bay were exporting every 
three months about 12000 bird skins, chiefly 
those of the lesser bird of paradise. 
Meriden Bird Sanctuary. 
Through the activity of Ernest Harold 
Baynes, the Meriden (N, H.) Bird Club has 
established a bird sanctuary at that place. Many 
plants that furnish bird food have been set out, 
and the students of the Meriden Academy have 
joined with the residents in putting up bird 
boxes and food houses, feeding the birds in 
winter, and protecting them from their enemies. 
The bird population of the locality has greatly 
increased. Branch bird clubs have been formed 
by Mr. Barnes in other parts of New England, 
which are doing similar work. 
Protection of Birds on the Fame Islands. 
A NUMBER of residents of Northumberland 
county, in the north of England, have organized 
the Fame Island Association, the object of which 
is the protection of the razor-billed auks and 
other species of birds which nest on the Fame 
Islands. These islands, twenty-one in number, 
lying off the coast of Northumberland, are small, 
rocky, and of no agricultural value. Keepers 
have been employed to stay on them during the 
birds’ nesting season to protect the birds. 
