74 The Ottawa Naturalist. [Aug. 



must be remembered, however, that these are chiefly city 

 records and that some of the birds doubtlessly arrived sooner 

 in the country. April 3: five Horned Larks; variety not deter- 

 mined ; one Tree Sparrow. April 9 : One Flicker. April 1 1 : 

 Greater Yellowlegs. April 13 : Sparrow Hawk and Rough-legged 

 Hawk. April 14: Two Crows. April 15: Robins. April 19: 

 Mallards. April 22 : Western Meadowlark. April 23 : One Phoe- 

 be, two Red-tailed Hawks. (The Phcebe was sitting upon a 

 telegraph wire uttering a loud double note rather different from 

 wdiat I had been accustomed to; indeed it puzzled me at first 

 and I was obliged to get quite close before I was satisfied as 

 to its identity. Since then, I have seen two others which 

 looker browner than the typical form seen in Eastern Canada. 

 Mr. Wolly-Dod, of Millarville, tells me they breed at his place.) 

 April 27: American Pipits quite common. May 1: A single 

 Myrtle Warbler was seen and that is all. 



On April 25, I went to visit the well known Lepidopterist , 

 Mr. Wolly-Dod, and there spent two delightful days looking 

 over his fine collection, which is remarkably rich in long series 

 of Noctuidae. It would, however, take too long to relate all 

 the interesting things seen there ; sufficient to say that I gained 

 much useful information and that Mr. Dod showed that 

 generous hospitality which is a trait of so many true naturalists. 

 I came away laden with specimens which would have taken 

 years of labour to have gathered together under ordinary 

 circumstances. 



Among the birds at Mr. Dod's place I was interested to 

 find a pair of Chickadees building a nest in a fence post, and 

 a Magpie's nest, observed from a distance. This was in a 

 rather large willow bush in a very exposed position; it appeared 

 to be a very bulky affair almost as large as a crow's. Magpies are 

 fairly common in Western Alberta and are said to be injurious 

 on account of their destroying the eggs of other birds. When 

 one considers, however, how our crow is condemned, quite 

 wrongfully, for the same offence we are apt to ask ourselves 

 who the authorities are and what their evidence is worth. 

 There is no question, however, that these birds are great thieves 

 and are just as troublesome to the trappers as the well known 

 Whisky Jack. 



To the west of Calgary in the wooded bank before mentioned , 

 several crows, a pair of Red-tailed Hawks and a couple of Bald 

 Eagles were nesting, but not in peace. There are always some 

 idlers, whose chief pleasure in life seems to be to kill, and such 

 a band was noticed here, doing their best to exterminate the 

 only birds of the kind found in the neighbourhood. Higher 



