70 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



[Vol. XXXVI 



side to the other, giving him such a droll appear- 

 ance that I laughed aloud. On my advancing 

 the mouse to the top of the stump, almost touch- 

 ing him, he opened his beak and gave a slight 

 squeal; for a moment his pupils contracted, the 

 yellow irises appearing enlarged, then, like a 

 flash, he snatched the mouse from the stick with 

 his claw. The next moment he was off with the 

 mouse as buoyant as a feather, squealing as he 

 flew through the woods. 



The next day, Monday the 24th May, we were 

 off at about 5.30 a.m. to explore the territory we 

 had not already covered around the Bay. Lus- 

 sier's son Raoul was with me this time, a young 

 French-Canadian woodsman with a keen love of 

 nature. He was especially eager for the fray this 

 day, being arrayed with my climbing-irons and 

 rifle and his old, trusty weapon, the tomahawk. 

 His eyes shone as he buckled on the climbers and 

 fairly 'ran' twenty feet up a butternut tree to a 

 Sapsucker's nest. He was hardly down when he 

 was up another tree after a Whistler's nest, about 

 thirty feet high this time. I tried to calm his 

 ardor for climbing after this, as I was anxious that 

 he should feel fresh for the Hawk Owls. 



At 10.30 a.m. I looked at my notes and found 

 recorded 76 different species, all summer residents. 

 A hypothetical list (chiefly Warblers) would have 

 swelled this number another dozen or so. I had 

 taken some interesting nest pictures but I had one 

 more interesting find to make. We were on our 

 way to the canoe, crossing a piece of open moist 

 pasture, when I heard the peculiar sound-beats 

 characteristic of the flight of the Wilson's Snipe. 

 There he was, circling above us high in the air, 

 a mere speck against the clear blue sky. Luck 

 was with me this time, for in a few moments I 

 almost trod on the female, who jumped off her 

 nest situated in the middle of a small, circular 

 patch of dry ground grown over with high grasses. 

 With her well-known alarm cries of 'scaipe, scaipe,' 

 she trailed along the ground in the well-simulated 

 manner of a wounded bird with broken wing. I 

 obtained good pictures of her nest and four eggs 

 which were about ten days incubated. Then I 

 turned my attention to our friends the Hawk 

 Owls, as the day was advancing rapidly. 



At about 11.30 we arrived at Frenchman's 

 Point where the unmusical Crackles were holding 

 forth in chorus, and as we struck into the woods 

 I heard the now-familiar squeal of the Hawk Owl. 

 Sure enough, the male came crying through the 

 woods to greet us, swooping up to a branch to 

 look us over properly. He kept up his screeching 

 until presently the female wafted in silently on 

 the scene. She landed on a low branch of a tree 

 close to the male, but the latter flew away 

 perhaps he was behind his average 'catch' that 



day. The female seemed to take quite an interest 

 in us this time and kept staring at me with head 

 thrust forward. I went closer to her, using differ- 

 ent sounds in an attempt to become congenial, 

 whistling, etc! She went through the same 

 'stunt' as on the previous day with drooping wings 

 and raised feathers, but she seemed to be extreme- 

 ly curious on this occasion, cocking her head 

 sideways 'as the male had done) most inquisitively. 

 I happened to have in my hand a round brass 

 specimen box, and Raoul discovered that all her 

 excitement was being caused by the reflections of 

 the sun, which was shining brightly upon the 

 brass box. I immediately "aimed" reflections at 

 her, whereupon she became tremendously excited, 

 drooping her wings and ruffling her feathers 

 beautifully an interesting sight. Presently the 

 male came calling through the woods and landed 

 on a low stump. 4He had a field mouse in his 

 talons and was squealing a great deal as if to 

 proclaim his success. The female now started to 

 screech energetically at her mate; just as I was 

 about to attempt a photograph of her she decided 

 to join her husband on the big stump. After 

 increasingly loud antiphony, during which the 

 female again went through her characteristically 

 aggressive movements with raised feathers and 

 half-extended drooping wings, she took her first 

 peck at the mouse in her husband's claw, where- 

 upon he immediately followed suit. My 9X 

 Busch binoculars were 'glued' on them. What a 

 picture! All sense of decorum was swept aside 

 as they proceeded to pull at the unfortunate 

 mouse with their beaks, a regular tug of war, 

 "beaks only" all other holds barred! The 

 mouse's skin at length gave way in the middle 

 and the female let go, whlie the male removed a 

 string of entrails with his beak. Now for the 

 camera! Why had I left the Graflex in Montreal? 

 I set the focus of the Premo at 20 feet and was 

 moving up to that distance when the female flew 

 a short distance away, and before I could snap 

 him the male flew away with the mouse, alighting 

 on a high branch of a dead tree. I examined the 

 scene of the late performance and found nothing 

 but some of the mouse's gore and entrails. Then 

 I started to watch the male. The female was 

 with him on the outer end of the same branch and 

 was again going through her peculiar antics, 

 screeching intermittently. While these perfor- 

 mances might be characteristic of the ijawk Owl's 

 fighting spirit and well-known courage, I concluded 

 such manoeuvres were also employed simply as 

 "bluff." 



I watched the male as he disembowelled the 

 mouse with his beak, holding it with one or both 

 claws and laying out the entrails on the branch 

 with his beak. After a httle more 'crowding' and 



