THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 221 



nose dive almost to the ground, when out shot the pinions and the tail seemed 

 {j flatten back as the daring aeronaut glided into the horizontal with a booming 

 whirr of air through its feathers. If the game never palls on the bird, it cer- 

 tainly never palls on the human spectator, let him once contrast the clumsy 

 barging movements of his own earth-bound body with the airy grace and swift 

 power of living wings. 



The finest spectacle of flight I ever watched was a game of just this 

 kind played by a pair of bald-headed eagles on the Rideau. Here the birds took 

 turns in soaring and diving, one bird floating almost motionless in mid-air 

 while its mate soared in a bold spiral of immense sweep ; suddenly from the 

 dizzy top of its staircase the climber stooped, and plunged sheer down throhgh 

 the walls of space, apparently almost grazing the still form of the other in its 

 descent ; then with a faint bark or two of enjoyment it would flap and glide 

 its way up into position to sleep outspread in mid-air, the floating target for 

 its fellow's plunge. At first, as I have said, they took turns in this daring 

 sport, and the game seemed to develop fresh variations in the very practice 

 of it; sometimes there was a skirmish in mid-air. one dashing at the other on 

 the level as though lunging out from the shoulder with a full-face blow ; this 

 the other would avoid by a sudden side-step or an upward leap ; once the bird 

 on guard stood its ground, and at the very instant of the fearful impact, sud- 

 denly the pair of them shot up in a double-headed geyser, rising rampant face 

 to face, like game-birds at a cocking main, in the heat of their fierce encounter. 



(To be Continued.) 



THE NYMPH AND BREEDING PLACE OF AESHNA SITCHENSIS 



HAGEN (ODONATA). 



BY E. M. WALKER, 

 Biological Dept., Toronto University. 



Aeshna sifchensis Hagen, one of the two smallest and most northern 

 Species of the genus in North America, has been known since 1861, but though 

 it has been taken in a number of locafities since then, from Atlantic to Pacific, 

 almost nothing has been recorded concerning its habits and haunts. 



The first time I came upon this species in numbers was on June 29, 1913, 

 at Banfif. Alberta (4.500 ft.). They were flying over a partly cleared area on 

 the side of Sulphur Mountain below the Upper Hot Springs, probably not more 

 than 500-600 feet above the town. All were young individuals with the colours 

 not yet quite mature, so that I felt reasonably certain that if I could find their 

 breeding place, the exuviae w:-uld be pre-:ent and perhaps nymphs would be 

 obtainable. Accordingly I searched all the likely looking ponds, lakes and 

 streams I could find in the neighbourhood; but, although Aeshna nymphs and 

 exuviae were found, they all belonged to A. palinata and A. interrupta. 



During succeeding years, although I spent some time in northern locali- 

 ties, where this species is regional, I found no trace of it until the season of 

 1921. In July of that year I was again collecting in Banfif, but spent two weeks 

 there without seeing Ae. sitchensis at all. After visiting the Pacific Coast, how- 

 ever, I returned to Banfif, spending a day and a half (Aug. 5 and 6) on the 

 way at Field, B.C. (4,072 ft.}. 



