1917] The Ottawa Naturalist 129 



6. A grebe with young seen once; presumably Pied-billed Grebe 

 Podilymbus podiceps, but male was not observed, so could not be sure 

 of identification. 



7. I have noted in above list cases where nests have been found; 

 judging from the dates when birds themselves" were observed, it is 

 most likely that all the birds in the list nest in the Park. 



NOTES ON THE FEEDING HABITS OF TWO 

 SALAMANDERS IN CAPTIVITY. 



By Charles M. Sternberg, Geological Survey, Ottawa. 



While attending an excursion of the Ottawa Field-Naturalists' 

 Club to Cache Bay, on the Ottawa River, about two miles above Hull, 

 P.Q., on May 13 last, the writer was fortunate enough to capture two 

 salamanders, Amblystoma punctatum (the spotted salamander), and 

 Ambly stoma Jeffersonianum, as well as a newt,Diemictylus viridescens. 

 The habits of the salamanders have since been observed. They were 

 all placed together in a box, with a screen netting on the top, and with 

 damp earth, moss, and rotten wood in one corner. Under this they 

 crept and have since remained, (with the exception of the newt) ap- 

 parently much at home. 



The newt refused to eat from the first and died in July, but the 

 salamanders readily ate earth and other worms, crickets, house flies, 

 and other soft insects. They refused however to eat small grass- 

 hoppers, spiders, and insects with hard wing covers, such as the Lady 

 Birds and other small beetles. Dead worms left in the box were not 

 eaten, but on one occasion a small strip of fresh pork, moved to 

 imitate the action of a live worm, proved sufficiently attractive to one 

 of them. Like many of the lower forms of vertebrates, salamanders 

 can live without food for several weeks with apparently no discomfort; 

 then they make up for lost time by gorging themselves. This was 

 proven on one occasion when, after being without food for about five 

 weeks, each ate three angle worms before they were satisfied. They 

 began by catching a worm near one end and then by a succession of 

 quick snaps taking a fresh hold, each time about one-fourth of an inch 

 ahead, they gradually swallowed it. These movements were very rapid 

 but the interval between bites varied and sometimes they waited as long 

 as half a minute before continuing. On one occasion the two salaman- 

 ders took hold of opposite ends of a very large angle worm and began 

 to devour it, each being apparently ignorant of the other's action until 



