148 The Ottawa Naturalist. [Feb. 



with great interest their movements. When swimming under- 

 neath the water they had a most interesting habit of following 

 each other on every little deviation. When one wotdd come 

 to the surface, breathe and go down, the one immediately after 

 did the same thing at the same place, and then the third fol- 

 lowing; they soon went into the grasses where they were not 

 clearly visible, but they began working towards a little opening 

 near us in which sat a Pied Bill Grebe. She kept a watchful 

 eye on the motions of the otters, and when they were within 

 twenty or thirty yards, disappeared and re-appeared some 

 thirty yards to one side, and it happened that they did not go 

 any nearer to her. They soon caught some fish and, fortunately 

 for us, there were some stranded stumps and roots on which 

 they climbed out and ate their catch. They also played with 

 each other, and quarreled in a friendly way, which led us to 

 suppose that they were young, or at most a mother and two 

 young, though we could see no difference in their size. 



This was perhaps the rarest sight of our trip, and we were 

 exceedingly gratified that it lasted nearly an hour. 



We then proceeded up Mcintosh creek as far as the first 

 portage, where we decided to retrace our steps. We followed 

 the portage trail up through the woods, and had the pleasure 

 of seeing there our only pair of the Pileated woodpecker. 

 They were not very tame, and gave us little opportunity for 

 observation, but it was a joy to see these big birds again. They 

 are said to be quite common in some parts of the park. Two 

 boys from Toronto camping on Lake LaMuir told us that they 

 were frequently seen near their camp. A ranger with whom 

 we talked told us that they inhabited the big timber only, which 

 means the districts where the pine has not been cut off, and it 

 was in a region of large trees that these two birds were seen. 



Next morning we began ovir return trip through White 

 Trout lake. 



After paddling two or three miles we came to the high 

 bluff facing the lumber camp on the north side of the lake, 

 where we had climbed on the preceding day hunting for ferns. 

 This time we found something much better than the ferns, in 

 the person of a Duck Hawk, which gave us one of the most 

 beautiftil illustrations of sailing with motionless wings that 

 either of us had ever seen. Evidently he was keeping watch 

 over something, and as the location was entirely suited to their 

 needs as a nesting place, we thought it not improbable that the 

 young were nearby. After wc had passed the cliff we heard 

 him scream, and looking back found that he had been joined 

 by his mate, but we gathered no more information regarding 

 their habits or location. 



