unpleasant interview with bumblebees, 
or as if he had the mumps. He invari¬ 
ably fills the pouches to their limit 
when he is laying up his stores, which, 
by the way, are used most freely in 
earliest spring. However, the pouches 
are not used solely for food carrying. 
When his home is being constructed, 
most of the dirt excavated is taken some 
distance away — sometimes more than 
fifty feet—and there deposited in small 
heaps, resembling ant-hills. In fact, 
they are often taken for the work of 
these busy little insects. If any dirt 
is left near his burrow he packs the 
loose stuff solidly with his feet until 
the home entrances are as inconspicu¬ 
ous as possible. 
What a labyrinth “chippy” makes of 
his den! He always has several doors, 
but there are also blind alleys leading 
nowhere, and after the main tunnel 
has twisted between some roots it drops 
for several feet, then runs parallel with 
the surface and again turns upward to 
end in a cozy room lined with fine 
grass. Other passages frequently ra¬ 
diate from this, the center of his home. 
Even while secure from most of his 
enemies he must still fear the implac¬ 
able weasel and the deadly grip of the 
blacksnake. 
Above ground he is seldom far away 
from some convenient shelter. Here 
he is forever watchful, as vigilance 
with him is the price not of liberty, but 
of life itself. Still, many fall victims 
to prowling cats and dogs, or to the 
hawk’s swift rushes. Should one of 
these fail in his first onset he will prob¬ 
ably go away hungry, for once the 
alarm has been sounded, every chip¬ 
munk in hearing has made an instant 
rush for safety. Soon not one is in 
sight, but the danger quickly passes, 
and the bravest chippy reappears, cau¬ 
tiously poking his nose out of the 
ground some ten feet from the spot 
where he vanished. The coast is clear, 
other little striped backs bob up, and 
the cheerful chirrups again sound their 
messages of good-will to the brother¬ 
hood of camp and trail. 
Leoren D. Ingalls. 
WILD FOWL MIGRATION 
HE Mallard always has, and per¬ 
haps always will hold, the place 
of first esteem in the hearts of 
wild fowlers. A remarkable fact in 
regard to this species and one that 
merits the attention of everyone inter¬ 
ested in the future of this splendid bird 
is that its breeding range is infinitely 
greater in area than that of its winter 
home. This means that unless ade¬ 
quate areas are set aside as sanctuaries 
in our southern states, the Mallard be¬ 
fore long will be unable to find suffi¬ 
cient places in which to spend the win¬ 
ter. Added to this is another fact of 
serious importance, viz, that a large 
part of the Mallard’s winter home is 
in Mexico where the bird receives little 
if any protection. Both of these fac¬ 
tors bode ill for the future of this 
splendid game bird, and they serve as 
two of the best reasons in the world 
for passing the Public Shooting Ground 
Game Refuge Bill at the next session 
of Congress in December. 
Roughly speaking, the breeding range 
of the Mallard extends over the whole 
of the middle and western portions of 
Canada and all of Alaska. In the 
United States it breeds approximately 
over the entire area north of a line 
drawn from southern portion of New 
Jersey to northern California, but ex¬ 
cluding the states of New York, Ver¬ 
mont, New Hampshire and Maine. Its 
winter home, on the other hand, is 
restricted to the comparatievly small 
areas occupied by the tier of Atlantic 
states from New Jersey to Florida and 
by the Gulf states, with the exceptions 
of the northern sections of Georgia, 
Alabama and Texas. It also includes 
Arkansas, Missouri and the southern 
parts of New Mexico and Arizona, and 
as previously noted, the greater por¬ 
tion of Mexico. The whole of the Pa¬ 
cific coast area serves as both a winter 
and summer home. 
The area of this winter home may 
sound quite extensive, but if a map is 
consulted it will be found to be only 
about half as large as the breeding 
area. 
The Canvasback breed in a large 
portion of the northwestern sections of 
the United States and Canada, espe¬ 
cially Saskatchewan and Alberta. Its 
winter home comprises a large portion 
of the Atlantic seaboard states south 
of New Jersey and most of the Gulf 
states, the Pacific coastal area and the 
southern half of Mexico. This makes 
it imperative that the Canvasback re¬ 
ceive adequate protection in its north¬ 
western range in order that good shoot¬ 
ing may be enjoyed upon its migra¬ 
tions to our southwestern states. 
The Black Duck breeds approximate¬ 
ly throughout the northeastern part of 
the United States and the eastern half 
of Canada, and is yearly extending its 
range westward. Its winter range in¬ 
cludes most of the eastern half of 
North and South Carolina, the southern 
half of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi 
and Louisiana and the northern half 
of Florida. A narrow strip along the 
coast of the middle Atlantic states 
serves both as a winter and summer 
home for the Black Duck. From a 
study of these areas it will readily be 
seen that the winter home of this duck, 
too, is very much more restricted com¬ 
pared with its breeding grounds, and 
that the acquisition of areas as pro¬ 
vided for in the Game Refuge Bill 
would materially tend to relieve this 
condition of affairs. 
The breeding range of the pintail oc¬ 
cupies the entire northwestern part of 
the United States and as far east as 
Michigan and the whole of the western 
half of Canada, including Alaska. The 
winter range occupies, roughly, the 
southwestern corner of the United 
States and most of Mexico and Central 
America and Cuba. The Pacific coastal 
area serves as both a winter and sum¬ 
mer home. 
On their southward journey, these 
ducks take the Mississippi and Mis¬ 
souri Valley route and are generally 
the first of our ducks to wend their way 
to their breeding grounds. Just what 
route they take on their southern jour¬ 
ney has not been definitely established, 
but it is at least certain that they do 
not travel over the same area as on 
their northward journey. It is entirely 
probable that a great many of them 
come down along the Pacific coast. 
The Blue-winged teal is about the 
only one of our duck the area of whose 
winter range equals that of its breed¬ 
ing grounds. The latter occupies al¬ 
most all of the northern half of the 
United States as well as large areas of 
Saskatchewan and Alberta. The win¬ 
ter home extends to the extreme south¬ 
ern strip of the United States, spread¬ 
ing out over Mexico, Cuba, the West 
Indies, Central America and into South 
America. 
The Canada Goose winters over al¬ 
most the entire northern part of the 
United States and over all of Canada 
and Alaska, while its winter range is 
restricted to the eastern half of the 
Atlantic states south of Maryland and 
to almost the whole of the Gulf states, 
and as far north as Missouri and as 
far west as the Pacific coast, where it 
occupies almost the entire seaboard 
area. South of the United States its 
range extends over the northern half 
of Mexico. 
While in the case of the Canada 
Goose, too, the summer range is out of 
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