Nov. 4 , I9H-] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
683 
American Ornithologists’ Union. 
The twenty-ninth stated meeting of the Amer¬ 
ican Ornithologists’ Union will convene in Phila¬ 
delphia, at the Academy of Natural Sciences, 
Nineteenth and Race streets (Logan Square). 
The business meeting of the Fellows will be held 
in the Academy’s council room, Monday evening, 
Nov. 13, at 8 o’clock. The public meetings will, 
be held in the lecture hall, Nov. 14-16, from 10 
o’clock A. m. until 4 p. M. each day. 
Fellows who intend to present papers are re¬ 
quested to notify the secretary before Nov. 7 
as to the titles of their communications, and the 
length of time required for their presentation, 
so that a program for each day may be pre¬ 
pared. 
Besides the reading of papers, amendment to 
the by-laws will be considered, and also the e’ec- 
tion of Fellows. 
The local committee, under the chairmanship 
of Witmer Stone, has issued a cordial invita¬ 
tion to all members of the Union to be present 
at this meeting. The program promises to be 
especially interesting. 
The Hotel Walton, at the corner of Broad and 
Locust streets, will again be the headquarters of 
members, a choice which will be satisfactory to 
those who were present at the interesting ses¬ 
sions at Philadelphia four years ago. 
Since the system of badges and registration 
inaugurated at the last Philadelphia meeting will 
be used at this one, it is desired—in order that 
the identification list may be made up promptly— 
that members intending to be present send in 
their names without delay. 
Full information will be given by any of the 
members of the committee, which consists of 
Witmer Stone, Chairman; W. L. Baily, Steward- 
son Brown, Robert T. Moore, George Spencer 
Morris, Chas. J. Pennock, James A. G. Rehn, 
Samuel N. Rhoads, J. Fletcher Street, Spencer 
Trotter and Samuel Wright. They may be ad¬ 
dressed at the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences, 
Philadelphia, Pa. 
Squirrels in the Water. 
Theresa, N. Y., Oct. 14.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: I have read several articles in your 
valuable paper under the above caption, but not 
until your last issue has the gray squirrel figured 
in the articles; therefore, I have remained silent 
in the matter, but now I can add my one ex¬ 
perience with squirrels swimming in the water. 
Seven years ago, while visiting at this place in 
company of the late Albert R. Helmer, of 
Rochester, we were passing down Indian River 
half a mile below this village, Mr. Plelmer was 
busy with the fishing tackle while I was rowing 
the boat. (I have often told Forest and Stream 
that I was too lazy to fish, but would row a boat 
all day for others to do the fishing. The late 
Fred Mather once wrote me: “You are just 
the man I have always been looking for.”) In 
looking behind me to get my direction in the 
crooked stream, I saw a gray squirrel in the 
water in front of the boat; the next instant the 
boat struck the squirrel and passed over it. It 
came up on the opposite side near Mr. Helmer, 
who dropped his fishing tackle and picked up a 
pump gun. I called to him not to shoot until 
the squirrel got near the shore, which was only 
two or three rods away. I had turned the boat 
to give him a better chance to shoot, and he 
succeeded in killing it just before it reached 
the shore. 
. I think that was the only time I ever saw a 
squirrel swimming in the water, although as 
boy and man I have been on Indian River 
nearly every season for the past seventy years. 
J. L. Davison. 
Jays and Humming i_Birds. 
Tarpon Springs, Fla., Oct. 26 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: During the summer the mocking¬ 
birds were quiet, and not nearly so much in evi¬ 
dence about our place as the bluejays. About 
the end of the first week in September the mock¬ 
ingbirds began to sing, and often appeared in 
something resembling flocks. The bluejays have 
not appeared here for some weeks. One thing 
about the mockingbirds which I have never seen 
mentioned is their singular fondness for the little 
ornamental red peppers. One would not suppose 
that they would eat these, but they certainly do. 
They also at times appear to devour the berries 
of the camphor tree, which taste very strongly 
of camphor. 
We have seen no hummingbirds of late, and the 
few that have appeared this summer were small 
and green, but no ruby-throats. There are not 
many flowers here to tempt them. They are 
much more common in California than here, and 
seem especially fond of the flowers of the Chilian 
tobacco. (I do not know its botanical name.) 
Sometimes at Avalon, when I have come down 
from the mountains with a bunch of flowers, and 
have taken a seat on the golf ground to rest, I 
have had the little fellows examine my bouquet 
very carefully and they seemed to enjoy the 
blossoms. Kelpie. 
THE TOP RAIL 
Did you ever eat a loon, or try to do so? 
If not, add the following recipe from the Fur 
News to your camp cooking book: 
“Bill Crozer, a guide for fifty-two years at 
Charleston Lake, in Ontario, Canada, has a 
novel recipe for cooking a loon. Here is the 
recipe that Bill gave: Cook the loon in water 
for twelve hours, at night pour ofif the water 
and cook him over night, in the morning throw 
in a piece of grindstone, and when you can 
stick a fork in the grindstone, the loon is done.” 
5?C 5*5 jfc 
About the toughest camp dish I ever tackled 
was a gray squirrel. I had invited a greenhorn 
to hunt with me, and among other things had 
told him of the delights of fried squirrel and 
sweet potatoes. Shortly after making camp I 
shot a squirrel, and prepared it for our dinner. 
Nicely browned, it looked fine, and we tackled 
it. It was almost a hopeless task, but being 
hungry, we persevered, and finally got away 
with most of it. My friend, in his kindness of 
heart, said nothing at the time, but a week later 
he confided that he went to bed that night firmly 
convinced that he did not care for fried squirrel. 
Later experience with young squirrel stews and 
fries altered his opinion, but he frequently re¬ 
fers to his first attempt to eat fried squirrel. 
* * * 
I came upon a party of men and women one 
day, camped beside a trail, eating their evening 
meal. The prairie round about was alive with 
sage grouse, and they had shot one and were 
attempting to devour it. One of the women, 
thinking it might be a little tough, had par¬ 
boiled the rubbery bird, then fried it. It was 
no use; human teeth were not equal to that old 
hen, and finally they consigned her to the 
coyotes and returned to standard salt horse and 
biscuits. 
* * * 
One of the papers has announced that Earl 
Ovington will attempt to fly from New York to 
the Pacific coast via Albany, Buffalo, Chicago, 
St. Louis, Kansas City, thence southwest across 
New Mexico and Arizona, to Los Angeles. It 
is further stated that he will take a moving pic¬ 
ture machine along with him, to be employed in 
photographing Yellowstone Park, en route. To 
some school children geography is a frightful 
bugaboo. In newspaper work it is a well known 
fact that the most glaring errors are found in 
the largest type. But this “bull’ is no worse 
than one that appeared in one of the most in¬ 
fluential newspapers. In a long and ponderous 
editorial it placed Kansas City, Kan., and Kan¬ 
sas City, Mo., on opposite banks of the Mis¬ 
sissippi River! The State line, as most visitors 
to these towns know it, if they know it at all, 
is in the heart of a rushing business district. 
And tourists bound for Los Angeles dig deep 
into their pockets before they "take in” Yel¬ 
lowstone Park en route. 
* * * 
P. J. Muldoon, of the Newark Bait- and Fly- 
Casting Club, claims to have taken a black bass 
with the fly in his bedroom. He took the bass; 
there is abundant proof of that, but opinions 
differ as to the correctness of the term “bed¬ 
room.” If, as some men claim, their homes are 
wherever they hang up their hats, then Pat’s 
story undoubtedly entitles him to a pink-green 
honor in the Bonfire Club. 
It was at Fox Hill Lakes that some of the 
members of the Newark Club worked diligently 
all of one day to put boats and fishing para¬ 
phernalia in shape for the opening of the bass 
fishing; in fact, they worked so hard that they 
were tired out when night came, and Pat was 
content to sleep in the boat house, close beside 
the water. The bass referred to demurred, and 
in such energetic fashion that the tired angler 
awoke to hear it splashing in the cool water ad¬ 
jacent to a boat runway almost beneath his hard 
couch. Taking his fly-rod, he stepped back out 
of sight, dropped the fly over the big bass, and 
after a lively fight landed the big fellow on the 
planks where he had fallen asleep. 
* * * 
In a book of shooting stories recently pub¬ 
lished, one of the contributors, in telling the story 
of his life, says his father was fond of practicing 
with a ten-bore gun at glass balls tossed up by 
an attendant. Incidentally he remarks that “the 
racket made by four and a half ounces of black 
powder was very disconcerting.” Distance lends 
enchantment; ounces and drachms look alike to 
some people. Grizzly King. 
