8i2 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[May 22, 1909. 
Arbor and Bird Day—Illinois. 
The State of Illinois has issued its Arbor and 
Bird Day circular, a book of 96 pages, very 
fully illustrated and in all ways a most credit¬ 
able production. It is issued by F. G. Blair, 
superintendent of Public Instruction. 
In his proclamation issued March i, Gov. 
Deneen designated Friday, April 23, 1909, and 
Friday, Oct. 22, 1909, as Arbor and Bird Days. 
The two days were designated to meet the re¬ 
quirements of the season in the extremity of 
the State. 
The commemorative book is made up of short 
articles on plants, trees and birds, is well printed 
and handsomely illustrated, and contains much 
matter of very great interest. The importance 
of the forests and of tree planting, as well as 
of the planting of shrubs and smaller plants, is 
urged; flowers, their ways of growth, their 
beauties and their uses are described. The use¬ 
fulness and interest of birds is discussed at great 
length and the “Economic Value of Some Com¬ 
mon Birds,’’ by A. O. Gross and Prof. S. A. 
Forbes is especially interesting. The State of 
Illinois is fortunate in getting out so handsome 
and so useful a memorial of Arbor and Bird 
Days for 1909. 
Horned Grebe. 
OcE.^N City. N. J., May 8.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: Will you kindly let me know what the 
proper name of the bird, whose photograph I in¬ 
close, is? 
The baymen hereabouts call it variously “old 
wife” and “water witch.” It is an extremely 
rapid swimmer and diver, as I found after hav¬ 
ing pursued one for nearly an hour in a gun¬ 
ning skiff. The formation of the feet is most 
peculiar, each toe being elongated into a sepa¬ 
rate, broad paddle. When pursued it seems to 
rely more upon its swimming and diving abilities 
than its wings, as I have rarely seen one fly. 
They appear here about Great Egg Harbor Bay 
in late September and stay nearly all winter. 
The eye is bright scarlet, the plumage dark 
brown above and gray beneath. W. M. F. 
[The photograph shows a horned grebe 
(Colynibns anrilus) in winter plumage. This 
species is common here in migration, breeding 
northerly. We have never heard it called “old 
wife,” a name commonly given to the long¬ 
tailed duck (Horelda). A common name is 
“water witch,” another is “hell diver,” both re¬ 
ferring of course to its diving abilities. It 
usually prefers to escape by diving. 
The feet are characteristic of the grebes, and 
whenever you see a bird with feet where the 
toes are like this—broad paddles—you may know 
that it is a grebe. The coot (Fulica) and the 
phalaropes have lobed toes, but quite unlike those 
of the grebes.— Editor.] 
A Call from an Eagle. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
During the February sleet storm one of my 
farmer neighbors was on his way to the village 
when he saw an eagle creep out of the shelter 
of a log pile at the edge of a woods. The birds’ 
plumage was so glazed and burdened with ice 
that his wings were useless. He attempted to 
escape on foot, hut the farmer gave chase and 
overtook him. After a sharp struggle the proud 
bird was ignominiously bagged. The elated 
farmer carried his prize home and cooped him 
in a box in the barn. It may be that he ac¬ 
cepted too literally the statement of a Western 
congressman that “during the Roosevelt adminis¬ 
tration the national bird had been changed from 
the eagle to the stork,” for he confided to a 
friend that he would kill the bird and have him 
mounted. 
The friend advised him of the law. The far¬ 
mer hesitated and sent a message of inquiry to 
the game protector. Word came to release the 
bird at once. The eagle’s coat of ice had melted 
and he had assumed a fiercer aspect. His coop 
was moved to the door and opened. Those who 
gathered to witness the flight watched the noble 
bird rise skyward and finally disappear far down 
the valley on the way to the Hudson. 
Will W. Christman. 
Connecticut Natural History Survey. 
Bulletin No. 12, of the Geological and 
Natural History Survey of the State of Con¬ 
necticut, has just been issued. It contains the 
third biennial report of the commissioners, for¬ 
mer Gov. Woodruff, President Hadley, of the 
Yale University; Wm. North Rice, Acting Presi¬ 
dent of Wesleyan University; S. F. Luther, 
President of Trinity College, and Chas. Lewis 
Beach, President of the Connecticut Agricultural 
College. Besides the biennial reports issued by 
the commission, nine bulletins on biological or 
geological subjects have been issued and several 
others have been accepted for publication. The 
work of the Survey is still in progress. Pro¬ 
fessors Gulliver and Gregory with some assist¬ 
ants are working on various geological prob¬ 
lems while Dr. G. P. Clinton and Prof. Conn 
are studying botanical subjects; John H. Sage, 
of Portland, and Louis B. Bishop, of New 
Haven, are working on a bulletin on birds; W. 
E. Britton and Henry Vierick are working on 
insects; Prof. W. R. Coe is preparing a bulletin 
on Connecticut echinoderms. 
Preparations are being made for much addi¬ 
tional work, which will be actively carried on. 
Otter in Massachusetts. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
An otter is reported to have been recently 
killed in Lakeville, Mass., by a collie dog be¬ 
longing to W. A. Sabine. The otter was four 
feet two inches long with a tail seventeen inches 
long. He was killed in an orchard near the 
house. The owner of the dog sent the otter to 
Boston and received thirty dollars for it. There 
are a number of lakes in the near vicinity, but 
this is the first time I have heard of an otter 
having been taken near them. 
Pox Hunter. 
The omission of the word “taken” in the 
Chas. E. Ingalls paper on the otter in Massa¬ 
chusetts, printed in Eorest and Stream of May 
8, alters the sense of the statement there made. 
The first lines of the third paragraph should 
read: “Much more common than is commonly 
supposed. To my certain knowledge there have 
been fifteen otters taken within three miles of 
my home within the last twelve years.” 
Audubon Work in Oregon. 
The Oregon Audubon Society has been mak¬ 
ing an active and successful campaign against 
the use of plumage of native birds by milliners. 
Under the direction of William L. Pinley, presi¬ 
dent of the society and lecturer for the National 
Association of Audubon Societies, ten of the 
leading millinery firms of Portland were ar¬ 
rested for selling aigrettes and other plumage. 
All of these pleaded guilty and were fined. The 
milliners agreed to withdraw from sale all plum¬ 
age of herons, gulls, terns, ibis and other native 
birds. Two of the leading department stores 
of the city, although arrested the first time, 
failed to withdraw all forbidden plumage and 
were arrested the second time. The fine was 
doubled on the second offense. This was paid 
and all the milliners were given a period of two 
weeks in which to ship out of the State all 
plumage that is forbidden under the law. 
The Oregon law for the protection of wild 
birds is the model bird law recommended by 
the American Ornithologists’ Union. Although 
it has not the specific clause prohibiting the use 
of plumage “whether taken within or without 
the state,” yet the present law, which says “no 
part of the plumage, skin or body of any bird 
protected by this section shall be sold or had 
in possession for sale,” is held to be broad 
enough and is interpreted to apply to any part 
of the plumage of any species found in Oregon. 
This is an important step for bird protection 
on the Pacific coast. Orders ffor aigrettes that 
were to be used next fall have been cancelled 
by the leading firms of Portland to the extent 
of several thousand dollars. Although the thou¬ 
sands of white herons {Herodias egretta) that 
were formerly found in the lake region of 
Southern Oregon have been almost extermi¬ 
nated, a few individuals are left. These are now 
carefully protected on the Malheur Lake reser¬ 
vation. 
In order to save the white heron. Western 
grebe and other plumage birds of Oregon, the 
Oregon Audubon Society was instrumental in 
raising funds to send Messrs. Pinley and Bohl- 
man through this vast region for the purpose 
of exploring and finding the places where these 
birds were breeding. It was upon the reports 
of these men that the National Association of 
Audubon Societies secured a special proclama¬ 
tion from President Roosevelt, setting aside 
Lower Klamath Lake and Malheur and Harney 
lakes as the two largest and most important 
wild bird reservations in the United States. 
L. A. Lewis, of Klamath Falls, has been ap¬ 
pointed warden in charge of Klamath Lake 
reservation, and Claud Hibbard, of Burns, has 
charge of Malheur Lake reservation. The Na¬ 
tional Association of Audubon Societies has re¬ 
cently purchased a patrol boat for the Klamath 
reservation and the birds are being carefully 
protected. The Oregon Audubon Society has 
recently raised a fund of $300 and in conjunc¬ 
tion with the National Association will pay for 
this warden service. 
At the last session of the California Legisla¬ 
ture a law was passed giving strict protection 
to plume birds of that State. This goes into 
effect June 17. The California Audubon Society 
has recently sent notices to all milliners of the 
State and is preparing for an active campaign 
against all those who are found disobeying the 
law. 
