100 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



(Vol. XXXVI 



that the likeness was evident enough to strike 

 me when I got a first glimpse of the bird. An 

 hour or so later I saw him again picking around 

 the stable yard, and still consorting with the 

 Sparrows, who, however, did not suffer him 

 gladly, but attacked him if he came too close. 



I have no sympathy with those ornithologists 

 who seem to regard it as an offence in a bird to be 

 rare, and immediately shoot any uncommon 

 visitant. "That'll lam him to be rare!" But 

 the Starling threatens to become as great a 

 nuisance as the English Sparrow, and as an 

 authentic record of its spread is valuable, I had 

 no compunction in collecting this unwanted 

 immigrant. Accordingly, not being a sportsman 

 myself, I arranged with a friend in the yard office 

 to shoot the bird on its next appearance. The 

 following morning it could not be found, but in 

 the afternoon I discovered it feeding among some 

 small cedars behind the stables, and gave the 

 alarm to my friend, who hurried out with the 

 gun, and, to use the technical term, the bird was 

 "taken." The specimen was sent to Mr. P. A. 

 Taverner at the Victoria Memorial Museum, 

 Ottawa, so as to make official record of the 

 occurrence. For an ornithologist is always a 

 doubting Thomas, and when you tell him about 

 some unusual bird you saw, he may listen politely, 

 but never really believes you , unless, applying an avi- 

 an Habeas Corpus Act, you produce the body itself. 

 Chapman says the Starling was introduced into 

 Eastern North America on several occasions, but 

 did not gain a foothold in the country until an 

 importation of 60 birds under the direction of a 

 Mr. Eugene Schieffelin was set free in New 

 York in 1890. Since then they have become 

 firmly established in the New England States, 

 and have appeared as far south as Alabama and 

 west to Ohio. I understand that a specimen has 

 been reported in Labrador, and this, with the 

 bird collected at Arnprior, marks their farthest 

 north to date. It is to be hoped that the sub- 

 arctic winter of the Ottawa valley may keep us 

 free from any large invasion of them, but they 

 show remarkable hardiness. 



The Starling is a favorite bird in Europe, 

 making itself attractive by its familiar habits 

 around dwellings, its handsome plumage, and its 

 destruction of insects. But, like most other 

 imported animals, its character seems to have 

 changed in its new home, and here it is developing 

 all the unpleasant manners arfd customs of the 

 English Sparrow. It gathers around buildings in 

 large noisy flocks and defaces the architecture 

 with unsightly nests and droppings; and, while 

 it is true that its food mostly consists of insects, 

 at times it is known to cause severe damage to 

 fruit. Worst of all, it is likely to drive away some 



of our most desirable native birds that now nest 

 around our houses. Mr. Taverner makes the 

 really alarming suggestion that it may dispossess 

 the Purple Martin, which can withstand the 

 Sparrow, but may not be able to resisit the equally 

 aggressive and larger Starling. This would be a 

 loss indeed. Chas. Macnamara, Arnprior, Ont. 



Notes on a Female Nighthawk with Young. 

 During the extreme heat wave which passed over 

 Ottawa in July, 1921, a female Nighthawk shifted 

 her two young across the gravel roof of a neigh- 

 bour's sun-room. From July 3-6, with drooping 

 wings, open mouth, and palpitating throat, she 

 straddled her young, shielding them from the 

 intense rays of the sun. July 7 being still higher 

 in temperature, she moved them before noon a 

 distance of about four feet to a shaded area cast 

 by the projecting roof over an adjacent attic 

 window. At 6 p.m. she had re-shifted them to 

 their original position. July 8 was stiil very hot, 

 95.5, and at noon she had shifted both young to 

 the extreme side of the sun-room roof, some ten 

 feet, to the shaded area of a brick chimney. At 6 

 p.m. she had again returned with her young to her 

 original site. At all times, when observed through- 

 out the day, she appeared to be suffering from the 

 heat, in all probability intensified by the gravel 

 coating of the roof. The young were about half- 

 grown and unfortunately the female was not 

 observed in the act of moving her charges. C. E. 

 Johnson. 



Strange Behaviour of a Female Yellow- 

 Bellied Sapsucker. A pair of Yellow-bellied 

 Sapsuckers were tapping a maple tree, the male 

 about twenty feet from the ground, and the female 

 some distance lower down. A friend collected the 

 male bird, which remained caught among several 

 small twigs. The female did not fly at the report 

 but disappeared on the opposite side of the tree and 

 began climbing up. Arriving at a point just below 

 the suspended male, she reappeared, uttered excit- 

 ed notes and promptly pounced upon the carcass. 

 The body was dislodged and she hurtled the 

 entire distance to the ground with it, continuing 

 to administer blows and leaving it only when we 

 had approached to within four or five feet. 

 Ottawa, April 17, 1922, C. Johnson. 



Parasite in a Salamander. On April 23, 

 1921, while I was overturning boulders along the 

 edge of a small creek near Ottawa, two specimens 

 of Two-lined Salamanders Eurycea bislineata were 

 exposed. One of these had the tip of its tail am- 

 putated. When it was immersed in alcohol later, 

 a species of roundworm similar in color and thick- 

 ness to those found in grasshoppers was noticed 

 protruding nearly a quarter of an inch from the 

 mutilated tail-end. C. Johnson. 



