148 The Ottawa Naturalist. [February 



thousands of Longspurs, circling for miles around some large hawk, 

 though their object in doing so is a mystery and seems to be almost 

 ignored by the hawk. Their music, as they fly around in millions, 

 fills the air, producing ' an effect which is long remembered. Both 

 Horned Larks and Lapland Longspurs may also be seen to rise some 

 30 feet, uttering as they drop a short song. It is evident, however, that 

 this is only a prelude to what is to come when the birds reach their 

 true homes. 



NOTES. 



Over seven hundred fragments of pipes made of pottery have been 

 counted among the finds made in the prehistoric Iroquoian Indian site 

 at Roebuck, Ontario, by Mr. W. J. Wintemberg, who explored there 

 for the Geological Survey in 1912. Wagon loads of pottery and some 

 charred corn and beans, but only four arrowheads chipped out of 

 stone, being found here among other finds, suggest that the prehistoric 

 inhabitants were apparently agriculturists who did not hunt and fight 

 as much as we are generally led to believe that the Indians did. Over 

 eighty graves were found, but only one contained anything besides the 

 skeleton, the custom apparently being different from that among many 

 other kinds of Indians. 



An aged Maya Indian woman from near Progresso, Yucatan, is 

 residing in Ottawa, undoubtedly the only person in the Dominion who 

 can speak Maya. The Mayas are the remnants of the tribe that is 

 believed to have built the most beautiful of the ruined cities of Mexico 

 and Central America the finest architecture of the New World. 



Oyster and quahog shells were found by Mr. W. J. Wintemberg 

 in exploring a shellheap on Mahone Bay, N.S., for the Geological 

 Survey of Canada. The oyster and quahog have not been known to 

 live on the southeastern or outside coast of Nova Scotia since the 

 region was first visited by white people. The finding of these shells 

 consequently suggests that the heaps are of considerable antiquity and 

 is of interest to the students concerned with these shell fish as indicat- 

 ing that at least these two species formerly lived in the waters near 

 Mahone Bay. While the Indians may have carried dried oysters and 

 clams for some distance, it is hardly likely that they transported them 

 in the shells or that they carried the shells from a distant place, especi- 

 ally since we do not find these particular shells were used by the 

 Indians in this vicinity. In fact the Indians who left the shellheaps of 

 the eastern coast of Canada did not use shell to any verv great extent. 



