Oct. 22, 1910.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
651 
The Canvasback in Massachusetts. 
Until within the last two or three years the 
canvasback duck has been a very rare bird along 
the New England coast. By gunners these ducks 
were looked upon as great prizes, but they have 
been seldom killed and the records of their cap¬ 
ture by ornithologists are very few. In the col¬ 
lection of the Boston Society of Natural History 
there are but four specimens, and in that of the 
Peabody Academy of Science at Salem but two, 
and of these six, four were taken within the last 
five years. 
S. Prescott Fay contributes to the October 
number of the Auk an exceedingly interesting 
paper on the canvasback in Massachusetts. He 
gives a chronological record of the specimens 
known to have been captured, by which it ap¬ 
pears that up to about 1900 less than thirty speci¬ 
mens are known to have been taken in Massa¬ 
chusetts. In 1903 a considerable number were 
seen, and five were shot; while in 1908, twenty- 
five or thirty were shot on Great Pond. Flocks 
of a dozen or fifteen were seen on a number of 
occasions, and In 1909 there seemed to have been 
killed in Eastern Massachusetts between one and 
two hundred canvasbacks, and that autumn 
marked the greatest flight ever known of canvas- 
backs in Massachusetts. So it seems that in that 
year the canvasback was almost common in 
Massachusetts, and the taking of specimens be¬ 
came much less noteworthy than it had been 
previously. 
Of these ducks a great many were killed on 
the island of Martha’s Vineyard, on Great Pond. 
Mr. Fay points out that many apparently suit¬ 
able ponds do not appear to attract the ducks 
at all, and why this is so is as yet a mystery. 
On the south side of the island of Martha’s 
Vineyard “there is a continuous string of ponds 
stretching from the extreme eastern end close 
to the western end. Often they are so close that 
only a very narrow neck of land separates one 
from the other. Some of the ponds are open 
to the sea by a small creek, making them very 
salty, others are opened only in the spring for 
a short time to let the herring run in to spawn, 
making them brackish, while there are some 
which are entirely fresh. Practically all of the 
canvasbacks (at least so far as can be judged 
from the records) are taken in but two ponds, 
and these two are entirely fresh. Local gunners 
tell me that they are taken in no other places, 
although there are other fresh water ponds than 
these two. In spite of the fact that the island 
of Nantucket, only fifteen miles away, has a 
similar string of ponds on the south side, though 
not quite as numerous or as large, there is but 
one definite record for the island. Of course 
there is only one reason—that which accounts 
for the appearance of ducks anywhere—namely, 
feed, for these two ponds are filled with wild 
celery (Valisneria americand ), to say nothing 
of other good duck grasses.” 
The occurrence here of Valisneria and Potamo- 
goton is reason enough for the occurrence of 
these birds, but it is not known whether these 
plants have always been there, or when they 
were introduced. It seems clear, however, as 
already pointed out, that the advent of the can¬ 
vasbacks in numbers has been very recent. 
Mr. Fay, speaking of the desirability of learn¬ 
ing the reason for the increase in the number 
of canvasbacks on the Massachusetts coast dur¬ 
ing the fall migration, traces the lines of flight 
of the birds. Their breeding grounds are in the 
west central interior of Canada, chiefly east of 
the Rocky Mountains. From these breeding 
grounds they start on their south, southeastern 
and eastern migrations in early fall, apparently 
in two main routes. One of these is south, 
spreading and crossing over into the United 
States, and splitting in two directions, one south 
across country to Texas and Mexico, the other 
down the Missouri and Mississippi Valley to 
KING, THE BIG POLAR BEAR. 
Courtesy New York Zoological Society. 
Louisiana and Texas. A second main course 
follows the borders between the United States 
and Canada across the Great Lakes to the north 
Atlantic coast and Massachusetts. 
Of the body which crosses the Great -Lakes, a 
large number seem to take a southerly course 
by which they reach the Chesapeake Bay and the 
sounds on the coast of North Carolina, but some 
appear to continue easterly, coming directly across 
the northern part of Massachusetts. Reaching 
the Massachusetts coast they turn south, stop¬ 
ping at suitable feeding grounds. No doubt 
others cross New York State in a southerly or 
southeasterly course, for they are taken in the 
large lakes of that State — Cayuga and others. 
It will be recalled by persons who traveled 
thirty or forty years ago in the Dakotas and 
Northern Montana that canvasbacks formerly 
bred in considerable numbers in those territories 
from which they have long been expelled by 
the settling up of the country. 
The fact that within the last two or three 
years the birds have become so much more 
abundant than formerly in Massachusetts should 
cause ornithologists and gunners to watch this 
matter closely, and may bring out some in¬ 
teresting results. Not only are canvasbacks in¬ 
creasing in Massachusetts, but broadbills and 
redheads are also increasing. Mr. Fay’s paper 
is extremely suggestive and interesting. 
Audubon Societies’ Annual Meeting. 
The annual meeting of the members of the 
National Association of Audubon Societies for 
the Protection of Wild Birds and Animals, for 
the election of three directors to take the places 
of T. Gilbert Pearson, Frank Bond and Dr. 
Frederick A. Lucas, whose terms of office will 
then expire, and for the election of additional 
members on the advisory board of directors as 
provided for in the by-laws, and for the trans¬ 
action of such other business as may properly 
come before the meeting, will be held in the 
West Hall of the American Museum of Natural 
History, Columbus avenue and Seventy-seventh 
street, New York, Oct. 25, commencing at 2 p. M. 
The reports of the secretary, treasurer, field 
agents and from several of the State Audubon 
Societies will be presented at this meeting. At 
the close of the business meeting a recess will 
be taken until 8 p. M., when the following ad¬ 
dress will be given: “The Facilities for the 
Study of Animal Behavior Offered on the Dry 
Tortugas Bird Reservation,” by Prof. John B. 
Watson, of the Johns Hopkins University. Dr. 
Watson has for two seasons acted as a warden 
of the National Association of Audubon Socie¬ 
ties and has made a special study during these 
periods of the sense of orientation as shown in 
the noddy and sooty terns. This little known 
and very interesting subject has been studied 
more exhaustively by Dr. Watson than by any 
other scientist in America. 
In the interim a subscription dinner, the cost 
of which will be $1, will be given promptly at 
6 o’clock at the Hotel Endicott, corner Eighty- 
first street and Columbus avenue. 
A Spotted Kudu. 
Recent numbers of the English Field tell of 
the discovery of a new spotted kudu which has 
been described by Dr. Lyddeker, from three or 
four skulls and a single skin brought by Ivor 
Buxton from the Sahatu Mountains in the Arusi 
District of Gallaland, on the borders of Abys¬ 
sinia. The specimens which were sent to Roland 
Ward, the taxidermist, were by him recognized 
as something quite novel, and were brought to 
the attention of Dr. Lyddeker. 
The specimens were killed at a considerable 
altitude, say 9,000 feet, and were found in an 
open stony country with little vegetation and no 
bush jungle. The ears are much smaller than 
those of the greater kudu, and the animal lacks 
the white stripes so characteristic of that species. 
The paucity of the material which Dr. Lyddeker 
has makes it as yet somewhat uncertain whether 
this animal is actually a kudu (Strepsiceros ), or 
some other closely allied form. 
