130 The Ottawa Naturalist. [Jan. 



THE HOODED MERGANSER NESTING IN SOUTH- 

 WESTERN ONTARIO. 



While examining the collection of living ducks and geese 

 in the possession of Mr. Roswell Goldie, at Guelph, in December, 

 1912, he told me that a nearby farmer reported to him in 1908 

 or 1909 that he had found a wood duck's nest and promised to 

 bring the eggs in for hatching. 



Mr. Goldie is much interested in raising these birds and 

 has a scheme for the liberation of some of them in spring so as 

 to help to increase the native stock. He was therefore anxious 

 to get these eggs to raise along with others laid by his own 

 female wood ducks. The farmer brought them in,in due time, but 

 Mr. Goldie suspected that they were not the eggs of wood ducks, 

 and when they were hatched they turned out to be Hooded 

 Mergansers. He worked overtime in trying to supply them 

 with fish and worms in sufficient quantities, but failed to be 

 able to keep them alive, although they ate greedily. 



I do not know that there is any authentic record of this 

 bird having bred in lower Ontario in recent years, which makes 

 this occurrence very interesting. It is of course certain that this, 

 as well as the larger Mergansers bred all over Ontario in former 

 years, and that they still nest annually in the more remote parts 

 of the country, but authentic instances are always important, 

 and for lower Ontario, are very few in number. 



W. E. Saunders, London, Ont. 



THE PRAIRIE DEER MOUSE AT LONDON. 



The Prairie Deer Mouse, Peromyscus michiganensis , has 

 been known for several years to be very common along the shore 

 of Lake Erie near Point Pelee. Its range has been extended 

 by means of specimens taken near Chatham and at the south- 

 east corner of Lake Huron, but it has not previously been 

 reported from the central part of the Western Peninsula. 



On December 12th, I found one of these mice in a trap in 

 my back yard in London. It had apparently been living for a 

 short time at least under a shed where my wood ducks shelter, 

 and had doubtless been feeding upon the grain for the ducks. 



If we accept the probability that this mouse is a recent 

 introduction to Ontario it will naturally follow that its further 

 spread is to be expected. There is little doubt that a slight 

 search would show its presence along the lake shore much farther 

 east than Point Pelee, and it might even be traced as far as the 

 Niagara Peninsula, as tin' circumstances all along the lake shore 

 are favorable for its spread. 



W. E. Saunders, London, Ont. 



