40 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [March 



hai'bour of Cow Head. Of course the postal arrangements there 

 are not exactly A 1 — never exceeding one delivery a day, and 

 this at intervals of from one month to six weeks in June, July, 

 and August, and usually not at all between the first of September 

 and 1st of the following June. During the nesting season the 

 assistance of a man worth anything could scarcely be obtained 

 under a sovereign a day, and then, for want of knowledge of those 

 birds not used as food, he may bring you a lot of eggs unknown 

 and unidentified, and consequently worthless. My plan was 

 probably better : I offered a fair reward for all eggs with which 

 I was tolerably familiar ; and although I got but few, I ran a far 

 less risk of paying for worthless articles. Although I am 

 answerable for all statements in these " Notes," except when 

 otherwise expressly stated, my friend, Prof. Newton — than whom 

 no one is more competent — has kindly undertaken to look through 

 the list previously to publication, for the purpose of calling my 

 attention to any passages which may require further verification or 

 particularizing, and thereby enhance their value. I have much 

 pleasure in addressing these ''Notes" to Mr. Spencer F. Baird, 

 of the Smithsonian Institution, and Mr. G. N. Lawrence, of New 

 York, in remembrance of their kindness to me during my stay in 

 the United States. The classification and nomenclature of the 

 authors of " Birds of North America" has been adopted in the 

 following list. 



Falconid^. 



Pigeon Haioh (Falco columbarius, Linn.) — This beau tifullittle 

 hawk, so closely resembling the merlin (i^. jEsalon), is a summer 

 migrant to Newfoundland, and is tolerably common : its food 

 consists chiefly of small birds, especially some of the smaller 

 species of Tringge, which abound on the coast in the fall of the 

 year. Since my return I have compared specimens of this species 

 with others of F. ^salon, and, although I cannot find any 

 material or reliable difference in size, the species are easily separated 

 by examining the tails. Both sexes in F. columbarius have/owr 

 distinct black bars — three exposed, and one concealed by the 

 upper tail-coverts. In F. ^salon the female onli/ has the tail- 

 bars distinct, and they are six in number — five exposed and one 

 concealed. The bars on the tail of the adult male F. ^salon, 

 although six in number, are only partially defined, and conse- 

 quently very indistinct. The bill of F. ^salon is slightly more 



