49 



REPORT OP THE ORNITHOLOGICAL AND OOLOGICAL 



BRANCH FOR 1887. 



Gentlemen, In presenting the Annual Report of the Ornitho- 

 logical and Oological Branch for the season of 1887, the undersigned 

 bes leave to state that durinsj the past season a considerable amount of 

 work has been done but with very little result in the way of obtaining 

 new specimens, only two having been procured. One a specimen of 

 the Common Brant, Branta bernida, which was shot^by Mr. P. Thomp- 

 son (of this city) last fall on a sand bar some 30 miles down the 

 Ottawa River. This bird, Mv. Thompson informs us, he compared with 

 the colored plate in Audubon's great work on Birds and found it to 

 agree in every particular. The other was a fine female specimen of 

 Swainson's Hawk, Buteo Sioaimoni, shot by i\Ir. G. White flying over 

 a swamp some three miles from the city. A pair of " Cacuwees " 

 {Harelda glacialis) in the breeding or summer plumage was obtained 

 last spring for a slight consideration by Mr. E. White from a person 

 who had just shot them in the Rideau River. We might say, for the 

 information of those who are unacquainted vvith the bird, that in the 

 winter plumage the head and neck are white and the long narrowly 

 lanceolated scapulars pearl gray ; in the summer plumage these parts 

 are black. As this species breeds in the north and is seldom found 

 here except in the fall and early spring, it is very unusual to see the 

 birds in the breeding plumage. On the 1st of November a small flock 

 of White-wing Crossbills was observed feeding on some pine cones 

 near the city. 



On the -Itli August several of the Common or Red Crossbills were 

 noticed. As these are supposed to be winter birds it is rather sur- 

 prising that they should be found here duiing the summer months, and 

 the question naturally arises what are tliey doing here, and why do 

 they leave the delightful climate of the North Pole? 



Several siiecimens of the beautiful and rare " Cape May Warbler " 

 have been obtained and also of the Mourning Warbler, which leads us 

 to believe that they are not so rare here as had been supposed. 



On the 27th August a specimen of the Common Tern was obtained 

 on the Ottawa River, making the second found here within two years. 





