Jan. 27, 1912.] 
FOREST AND STREAM 
115 
Winter Elk in Jackson Hole. 
Last spring Congress appropriated $20,000 for 
the feeding, protecting and removing of the elk 
in Jackson Hole and vicinity. I'his action was 
the result of complaints made for years of the 
loss of elk by starvation which has been taking 
place ever since by the settling up of the coun¬ 
try, their old wintering grounds in the Red Desert 
was cut off from the elk, and they were confined 
in winter to the region known as Jackson Hole. 
This is a part of the valley of Snake River, in 
Wyoming, extending in a general way from 
Jackson’s Lake—or perhaps better, the valley of 
Buffalo Fork, of Snake River—down the larger 
stream to and beyond the valley of the Hoback 
River, which also enters Snake River from the 
east. 
The act making this appropriation provided 
that the funds should be administered by the De¬ 
partment of Agriculture, and the work was 
turned over to the Biological Survey. To Ed¬ 
win A. Preble, one of its assistants, was assigned 
the work of investigating the subject. 
At Cheyenne, Mr. Preble met Mr. Nowlin, a 
former State game warden, and Mr. Hudson, the 
present game warden, and proceeded to Jack- 
son. The report that he made to the Biological 
Survey has just been issued, and is an interest¬ 
ing document. The description of the country 
and the maps and photographs which illustrate 
the paper render it very vivid. 
Mr. Preble estimates the number of elk in 
this region as from 20,000 to 25,000. The num¬ 
ber was formerly much greater, for practically 
all the elk in the high mountains in the south 
of the Yellowstone Park, and to the southeast 
of that, used to begin to work south in early 
autumn and following down Snake River for a 
considerable distance across over into the Red 
Desert. He estimates the number of cows at 
three years old at 6,625, and the number of 
calves, male and female, at 3,750. He estimates 
that from 2,000 to 2,500 elk perished from starva¬ 
tion in the Jackson Hole region in the winter 
of 1910-11. This loss was largely in calves, 
though of course a small percentage of it com¬ 
prised old and wounded animals. He 'concludes, 
however, that there should be an annual product 
of nearly 5.000 calves, and that until the deaths 
equal that number the elk will about hold their 
own. He estimates also that 2,000 elk are killed 
annually by hunters, and about 1,000 by wolves. 
We should suppose that the estimate of 1,000 
by wolves to be far in excess of the fact, but 
Mr. Preble has of course had the best oppor¬ 
tunities for gathering information on this point. 
These estimates bring the annual death rate close 
to Mr. Preble’s danger line. 
In 1910 and 1911 the State fed 250 tons of 
hay. This saved the lives of large numbers of 
elk, but of course was much less than the amount 
needed. 
Under the severe conditions of winter, the elk 
become extremely tame and can readily be ap¬ 
proached. They soon learn to understand the 
plan of feeding, and follow the loads of hay so 
that the herd gradually string out. On the 
wagon's return journey, small quantities of hay 
are thrown out at short intervals, and thus all 
the animals have a chance to feed. 
The damage done by the starving elk to the 
settlers’ fences and hay stacks has been many 
times described. 
When the elk cannot find grazing, or tender 
shoots of shrubs, they begin to eat the willows 
and aspens and destroy young trees of consider¬ 
able size. In past years we have seen taken 
from the stomachs of starving elk quaking aspen 
branches thicker than a man’s thumb. During 
the severe winter of 1910 and 1911, feeding did 
not always save the suffering animals, for it is 
reported that large numbers, both calves and 
older animals, died after the feeding had begun 
as a result of starvation before food was offered. 
As the winter ends, and the weather grows 
milder, the elk withdraw from the valley to the 
higher lands where the cured grass, which has 
been covered by the snow, supports them. Grad¬ 
ually as spring advances they move back toward 
their summer range where, of course, the fe¬ 
males again produce their young. With the com¬ 
ing of the first snows, the animals begin to work 
down from the high mountains toward the lower 
land. These migrations at first are made indi¬ 
vidually, but as the weather grows more severe 
and the snow deeper, the elk collect in large 
herds. 
Of the natural enemies of the elk in the Jack- 
son Hole country, Mr. Preble regards the wolves 
as the most important. Pie says that there are 
about twenty-five adult wolves in Jackson Hole, 
and they are extremely destructive to elk, as they 
are to stock. 
There is more or less illegal killing in this 
region throughout the year for various reasons, 
and the tusk hunter, who butchers one of these 
fine animals simply for the teeth which he sells, 
is the most contemptible of all the destroyers of 
the elk. 
By permission of the State authorities, Mr. 
Preble captured a dozen vigorous elk which 
were taken to the railroad. Of these a part were 
sent to the National Bison Range at Ravalli, 
Montana, and a part to the Wichita Game Pre¬ 
serve, in Oklahoma. Both shipments reached 
their destination in good condition. 
Mr. Preble recommends a game refuge in 
Jackson’s Hole, where of course the elk would 
have to be fed in winter. Such a suggestion 
was made some time ago, but the settlers of 
Jackson Hole could not agree on any p’an, and 
nothing has been done. 
Mr. Preble’s report, made with the same care 
that characterized his earlier reports to the Bio¬ 
logical Survey, is an admirable document, and 
should be in the hands of everyone who is in¬ 
terested in North American big game. 
Jamaican Trade in Booby Eggs. 
“Booby” is the name given long ago by British 
seamen to several of the smal'er species of gan- 
nets, because these sea fowls are regarded as 
stupid, since they show no fear of man. 
In the spring and summer, according to Con¬ 
sul Julius D. Dreher, of Port Antonio, millions 
of these birds flock to Morant Keys, three islets 
about thirty-five miles southeast, and to Pedro 
Keys, four islets forty to fifty miles south of 
Jamaica. Both of these groups are leased for 
a term of seven years to private individuals by 
the colonial government of Jamaica. Although 
cocoanuts have been planted and a few huts built 
on Pedro Keys, the lessees derive their profits 
almost wholly from the sale of the immense 
number of eggs laid by the boobies on the islets 
of the two groups. These eggs, which under the 
lease may be collected three times in a season, 
are brought to Kingston by sailing vessels. Dur¬ 
ing 1911 three schooners brought 38,000 dozen 
eggs from Morant Keys and three schooners 
20,000 dozen from Pedro Keys. The eggs are 
put up in boxes of 500 and 1,000, which are sold 
at $3.00 to $3.25 for a box of 500. The arrival 
of a boat with booby eggs is the occasion of no 
little excitement among the negro women, who 
buy them by the box and then sell them by re¬ 
tail chiefly in Kingston, though they are a’so 
sold in Spanish Town, Port Antonio, Montego 
Bay, and in other towns in the island. Though 
sold mostly by the dozen to housekeepers, booby 
eggs are also peddled, hard-boiled, on the streets 
of Kingston, salt and pepper being provided that 
the purchasers may eat the eggs at once. These 
eggs are about two-thirds the size of an ordinary 
hen’s egg, and are quite palatable. 
Birds on Lake Ontario. 
Brockport, N. Y., Jan. 18. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: In your issue of Jan. 13 I notice an 
article on “Noteworthy Waterfowl,” recording 
the taking of two eider ducks on Long Island. 
Believing it would be of interest I give a few 
records of rare or unusual occurrence of water- 
fowl in the western end of the State. 
I have on two occasions taken the eider duck 
(Y. spectabilis) on Lake Ontario. One, an adult 
female, was taken on Dec. 22, 1895; the other, a 
young female, on Nov. 18, 1900. 
A probably more noteworthy record is the se¬ 
curing of a young male, Barrow’s goldeneye, on 
Lake Ontario, in Monroe county, on Nov. 23 of 
the past year. The range of this species is more 
arctic than that of the common goldeneye or 
whistler, and its occurrence in the interior is 
very rare. This bird had but recently come 
from the sea coast, as an examination of the 
stomach contents revealed only the remains of 
salt water Crustacea. 
Among other birds of rare or irregular occur¬ 
rence in Western New York are the phalaropes, 
both the Northern and Wilson species having 
been observed on Lake Ontario, the former on 
Aug. 19, 1910, and the latter on Aug. 20, 1911. 
Four birds were seen in each instance. ■ They 
were out on the lake, two miles or more from 
shore, swimming around like little ducks. 
The surf scoter is another irregular visitor to 
Lake Ontario, as is also Brunnich's murre, para¬ 
sitic jaeger, great black-backed gull and laughing 
gull. Caspian terns and Baird sandpiper are 
regular, although uncommon fall migrants. 
White-rumped sandpipers are rare, as are also 
piping plover. A fine male of this species, which 
was secured here, is now in the State Museum 
at Albany. 
There are many other species of birds which 
on rare occasions visit Lake Ontario, more often 
during the fall than spring migration. 
George F. Guelf. 
