January, 1922.] 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



17 



were held at the wharf for a time by unfavorable 

 wind and weather. While here, Mr. Lewis went 

 one morning for a trip on shore, leaving me with 

 the mail-carrier, Mr. Fred Jones, and his son, 

 "Len." 



As I had a very lively interest in the bird I 

 had been watching, I asked my companions if 

 they had noticed it. They stated that they had 

 seen such a bird for several seasons in succession, 

 and that it often alighted on the chimneys and 

 roofs of the houses on shore. A few minutes 

 after this conversation I was hailed from the deck 

 by the boy, who announced, "Here is your duck 

 now." Taking my field glasses I went on deck, 

 to find the bird sitting on the ledge of a small 

 window well up in the gable end of the warehouse 

 at the farther end of the wharf. As the day was 

 somewhat misty, I landed on the wharf and ap- 

 proached to about one hundred feet from where 

 it sat. At this distance by the aid of the glasses 

 my observation was about all that could be 

 desired. From where I stood I could see the 

 reflection of the bird in the glass of the window 

 almost as plainly as I could see the bird itself, 

 and it seemed to be this reflection that occupied 

 the whole attention of Madam Duck herself. 

 After a few moments she arose from her sitting 

 position to her full height and seemed to be 

 peering into the window and bobbing her head in 

 an endeavor to establish friendly relations with 

 her own shadow. The approach of some men 

 along the wharf caused her to fly away and again 

 I noticed the noiseless flight, though I had quite 

 made up my mind that it was a female Golden- 

 eye. 



In the following month I was one day talking 

 with two of the patients on the verandah of the 

 Grenfell Mission Hospital at Harrington, and as 

 usual the conversation was chiefly of the birds of 

 the coast. I described the bird seen at Natash- 

 quan and asked them if they had ever seen one 

 like it. They replied that they had, from their 

 seat on the verandah, watched one nearly every 

 day for weeks past and that they had seen it 

 that morning. One of its usual performances, as 

 described by them, was to visit the Episcopal 

 Church adjacent to the Hospital to circle around 

 the chimney, sometimes perching on it and some- 

 times for a short space disappearing into the 

 opening. From their accurate description of the 

 bird and its actions, I felt that they were stating 

 facts. I asked them what they called this parti- 

 cular duck, and they replied that it was a "Smoky 

 Pie" and they were greatly surprised that I did 

 not know a duck of that name. 



J. L. De Vany. 



CORRESPONDENCE 



To the Editor of the Canadian Field-Naturalist: 

 Dear Sir: 



I was much interested in the Note by Mr. 

 Hoyes Lloyd in the May, 1921, number of The 

 Canadian Field-Naturalist on "An Aquatic Habit 

 of the Pigeons" and am able to add other instances 

 of the habit. To quote my "Notes on the Rock 

 Dove" (Auk, XXXII, 1918, p. 315) "Saunders 

 (Manual of British Birds, 1889) says 'both wild 

 and tame Pigeons have been seen to settle on the 

 water like Gulls and drink while floating down 

 stream.' Mr. Wm. A. Jeffries tells me he once 

 saw a Pigeon alight on the surface of the Frog 

 Pond in Boston Common. I have seen a Pigeon 

 hovering above Charles River in Cambridge 

 dropping its feet till they touched the water, 

 picking up something with its bill. This was 

 repeated five or six times." 



In my "Bird Genealogy" (Auk, XXIX, 1912, 

 pp. 288, 289) in a study of the relationship of the 

 pigeons to the auks, gulls, and plovers in the 

 group of Charadriif ormes, I state that * ' I recently 

 placed a half-grown Domestic Pigeon in a wash- 

 tub of tepid water. With head and neck erect, 

 the bird swam rapidly with alternate strokes of 

 the feet to the side of the tub. The wings were 

 arched up and waved slightly not stretched out 

 and flapped in the water as in the case of young 

 Passerine birds. Its position was like that of a 

 Duck, but low in the water. Progress was much 

 more rapid than on land where the bird stumbled 

 awkwardly along. Indeed it had never before 

 left the nest. I repeated the experiment several 

 times with the same result. A fact of consider- 

 able interest in this connection is that 'A Pigeon 

 with a perfectly webbed foot [was] evolved at 

 Cambridge by only three years' selected crossings' 

 (T. Digby Pigott, 'London Birds and Other 

 Sketches,' London, 1902, p. 239). This may be 

 looked upon as a case of reversion." 



In answer to Mr. Lloyd's question, therefore, 

 I should say: This curious habit of alighting on 

 the water has not been acquired independently, 

 but has an ancient foundation. 



Charles W. Townsend. 

 Nov. 30, 1921. 98 Pinckney St., Boston 



THE WILLET IN WESTERN NOVA SCOTIA 



Editor, Canadian Field-Naturalist: 

 Sir: 



It is with very great pleasure and interest I note 

 the increase of that splendid shore bird, the Willet. 

 My first remembrance of him was some forty 

 years ago, when, a mere kid, I was tenting on the 

 beach of St. Mary's Bay, in Digby County, Nova 

 Scotia. My companion was a sportsman of note 

 at that time. Our object was the shooting of 



