672 
F O R E ST AND S T R E A M 
November, 1918 
SHOT GUNS 
AND FALL SPORTING GOODS 
Catalogue No. 77, containing 200 pages, describing all Fall Goods 
mailed on receipt of 10 cents to partly cover expense 
SHOVERLING, DALY & GALES 
302 Broadway, New York 
HERE’S A TREAT FOR ANGLERS 
NESSMUK FISHING EQUIPMENT 
Nessmuk 
TRADE MARK-REGISTERED 
We have obtained the exclusive right to market the Fishing Tackle 
recommended by “N # ESSMUK” in his book on ‘‘WOODCRAFT”— 
new edition now ready $1.00 a copy. We give herewith a description 
of articles now available. Anglers will find all goods under the 
“NESSMUK” Trade Mark are the very best obtainable at the prices 
and are particularly effective and useful for the different purposes 
for which they are made. 
SPLIT BAMBOO RODS 
Semi-handmade of Selected Imported Bamboo. Each Rod lias an extra tip and is put up in a cloth covered wood 
form and bag. Rods are wound by hand and finished with several coats of Special Rod Varnish. Made in four patterns. 
No. N. T. L. Light Fly—length. 8 V 2 ft.; weight, about 4% oz.—For Trout Brook Angling. 
No. N. T. H. Heavy Fly—length, 9ft. ; weight, about 5% oz.—For Trout Lake and for Black Bass. 
No. N. B. Bait Rod—length, IV 2 ft.; weight, about 7% oz.—For Trolling and Stillfishing. 
No. N. B. C. Bait. Caster—length. 5^2 ft.; about 5% oz.—Short butt, long tip with Agate 1st Guide and Tips. 
$12.00 Each. 
BUCKTAIL SPINNERS—For All Came Fish 
Made of Untrimmed Bucktall Hair, superior to any other material for the making of lures of this type. Finished at 
the top with a little gold plated metal Spinner which adds considerably to the attractiveness of the Bait. 
MADE IN THREE STYLES. TWO SIZES. 
Brown—Hair Wings with Red Silk Body. 
Grayish—Hair Wings with Yellow Silk Body. 
Blackish—Hair Wings with Yellow Silk Body 
SPECIAL PATTERNS TO ORDER. 
Bass—on Sizes 1/0 O'Shaughnessy Hooks, each. 50c. 
Trout—on Size 6 O'Shaughnessy Hooks, each. 40c. 
FROG GANG 
Made of Highest Quality Imported Hand Filed Hollow Point Sproat Hooks, and Best Double Imported Selected 
Spanish Gut. 
Lower Hook, Size 1/0: center Hook, Size 1, placed 1 inch above the lower one and at right angle to same; top 
Hook, a small lip Hook.each 30o. 
WILLIAM MILLS & SON, 21 Park Place, New York City 
AMERICAN GAME BIRDS 
By Chester A. Reed 
Is a book written especially for sportsmen as a concise guide 
to the identification of game birds to be found in this country. 
Over one hundred species of game birds are faithfully de¬ 
picted by the colored pictures, and the text gives considerable 
idea of their habits and tells where they are to be found at 
different seasons of the year. These illustrations are repro¬ 
duced from water-color paintings by the author, whose books 
on birds and flowers have had the largest sale of any ever 
published in this country. They are made by the best known 
process by one of the very first engraving houses in the 
country and the whole typography is such as is rarely seen 
in any book. The cover is a very attractive and unique one, 
a reproduction of leather made from the back of a boa con¬ 
strictor with set-in pictures of game birds. Price, 60 cents. 
FOREST & 
9 EAST 40th STREET 
STREAM (Book Dept.) 
NEW YORK CITY 
THE UTAH DUCK 
SICKNESS 
A BOUT eight years ago attention was 
attracted to the serious loss by some 
mysterious disease of great numbers 
of wild ducks in the Salt Lake Valley. In 
this general neighborhood, and especially 
on the marshes which border the rivers 
draining into the Great Salt Lake, vast 
numbers of water birds have their breed¬ 
ing grounds, and it was in the neighbor¬ 
hood of such breeding grounds and in the 
late summer or early fall when the season 
was dry, and the level of the streams low, 
that great numbers of dead ducks were 
first noticed. To be sure, sick ducks had 
been frequently seen at different points on 
the Jordan River and in the Bear River 
marshes for many years before that, but in 
1910 the ducks died by thousands and their 
remains were so numerous as to lead to the 
belief that they were suffering from some 
epidemic and to create a local prejudice 
against killing and eating ducks. That 
year the local gun clubs were not open. 
With the fall rains, however, fewer sick 
ducks were seen and presently all ducks 
disappeared in migration. 
In T 911 the trouble was much less seri¬ 
ous, though great numbers of dead ducks 
were seen, about which much alarm was 
felt. In 1912 and 1913 things were very 
bad and in the early autumn of both these 
years something like 45.000 ducks were 
collected and buried. In some places 
trenches were dug in which the birds were 
placed; at others piles were made of the 
dead ducks which were covered with 
rushes. 
In the year 1914 there was less loss, and 
in 19 r 5—which was unusually dry—still 
less. 
This disease has appeared in many places 
in the west and it is by no means confined 
to ducks. In 1891 Dr. A. K. Fisher saw at 
Owen’s Lake, dead grebes which he esti¬ 
mated to number 35,000; and during the 
years 1909 and 1910 and 1913, many thou¬ 
sand ducks died on other shallow lakes in 
California. Not only have thirty-six spe¬ 
cies of birds been found affected by this 
sickness, but muskrats, frogs and certain 
insects are killed by it. Grebes, gulls, 
terns, pelicans, geese and shore birds have 
been found suffering, and even certain land 
birds, like the magpie, yellow-headed black¬ 
bird and cliff swallow. 
In 1914 Dr. Alexander Wetmore, As¬ 
sistant Biologist of the Biological Survey, 
began to study this sickness, working on 
the Salt Lake and California expanses, 
where the disease seemed most deadly. His 
studies have been completed and his full 
and excellent report has been published. 
V hen this disease first made its appear¬ 
ance a number of theories were suggested 
as to what caused it. Superficially the dis¬ 
ease presents certain resemblances to bird 
cholera, but a thorough examination of 
specimens showed that it was not this. 
Other experiments demonstrated that it 
was not transmissible, either by transmis¬ 
sion of the blood or by association, or 
even by eating the flesh of birds that had 
died. 
It was suggested that the birds had been 
poisoned by sulphurous or sulphuric acid 
