ebruary 11, 1912, Cayuga Lake in western New
York State was found to be covered with a solid sheet of ice from end to
end. It is a large body of water, having an area of nearly sixty-seven
square miles. It rarely freezes over--only once in about twenty years,
as the records show. The Ducks inhabiting the lake at this time were
caught unawares. Many of them moved quickly to more Southern waters, but
others tarried, evidently hoping for better times. Subsequently a few
air-holes opened and the Ducks gathered about them, but there was little
food even here, and numbers starved to death. One observer who went out
to the air-holes reported examining the bodies of twenty-eight
Canvas-backs and nineteen Scaups in addition to many others such as
Redheads and Golden-eyes. His survey was not exhaustive and the Gulls
had doubtless removed many bodies from the territory {93} he visited.
When the surface of lakes and bays freezes suddenly in the night Ducks
are sometimes caught and held fast by the ice adhering to their feathers
and legs. In this condition they are utterly unable to escape the
attacks of man and beast, and in the latitude of New York captures in
this way are now and then reported.

_Wild Fowl Destroyed in the Oil Fields._--In the oil fields of the
Southwest and old Mexico the surface of many ponds is covered with oil
into which unsuspecting flocks of Ducks alight never again to emerge
until their dead bodies drift to the shore. It was on November 27, 1912,
that the naval tank ship _Arethusa_ steamed into the harbour of
Providence, Rhode Island, with a cargo of crude oil. For several days
following her bilge pumps sent overboard a continuous stream of water and
oil seepage. On December 3d the following news-item appeared in the
_Providence Daily Bulletin_, "The east shore of the lower harbour and
upper bay, from Wilkesbarre pier to Riverside and below, is strewn with
the bodies of dead {94} Wild Ducks, which began to drift ashore
yesterday. The wildfowl came into the bay in enormous flocks about the
middle of November and have since been seen flying about or feeding in
the shallow water, as is usual at this time of year. As no such amount
of oil, it is believed, was ever let loose into the bay at one time
before, and as Ducks along the shore, dead from poisoning, have never
been seen before, it is reasonable to connect the two occurrences."

_Hunting Winter Birds._--Birds are to be found in winter in nea