118 Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 



miles from Celina, was the 'Water Turkey' Rookery. Here I used to 

 go to shoot them, with the natives who wanted them for their feathers; 

 I have helped kill a boat load." 



" One season 1 climbed up to their nests and got a cap full of eggs. 

 The nests were made of sticks and built in the forks of the branches. 

 The trees [which were all dead] were mostly oaks, and covered with 

 excrement. I found from two to four eggs or young to a nest. The 

 3'oung were queer little creatures — looked and felt like India rubber.'' 

 " The old birds flew around in clouds, and made their croaking notes, 

 indicative of their displeasure at my presence." " Some of the trees 

 had ten or twelve nests on them." "As the timber has rotted and 

 blown down, the birds have become less and less numerous." 



The above circumstances occurred during the month of June, 1867, 

 since when, as Mr. Dury states, these birds have rapidly decreased in 

 numbers. The man^' specimens examined b}' him were, without excep- 

 tion, var. Jloridanas. 



My own observation of the species in Ohio is limited to a, single 

 specimen found floating in the Reservoir late in October, 1874, 

 when its comrades had probably migrated. It has also been tolerably 

 well identified on both Miamis during the migrations. 



The St. Mary's Reservoir, alluded to in the foregoing notes, is a 

 point of much interest, ornithologically, and a brief account of its 

 main features may not be out of place in this connection. 



This Reservoir, which is in realitj^ a flooded wilderness, is an arti- 

 ficial body of water, eight miles in length,' by irom two to four miles in 

 breadth, covering an area of about 17,000 acres of original forest and 

 prairie in nearly equal proportions. It Is situated about one hundred and 

 thirt}^ miles north of Cincinnati,- in Mercer and Auglaize counties, 

 and supplies the Miami Canal. 



The construction of the Reservoir was begun in 1838, and completed 

 about the 3'ear 1815, hy throwing two parallel banks of earth, about 

 eight miles apart, across a shallow vallej' lying east and west. It re- 

 ceives its principal suppl}' from two small streams flowing through 

 this valley, and its situation is such that one of these streams eventu- 

 ally reaches Lake Erie, through the Si. Marys and Maumee rivers, 

 while the other finds its way into the Ohio river by way of the Wabash. 

 It is at once apparent that the creation of a body of water of this size, 

 so peculiarly situated, and in a region possessing no natural lakes, 

 can not fail to materially affect the bird-fauna of a large portion of the 

 State, and although not, technically speaking, within the scope of the 

 present paper, I have included some of Mr. Dury's observations at that 

 locality, as possessing a special interest. 



July 6, 1878. 



