200 



THE OOLOGIST. 



Dove, Turkey Buzzard, Sparrow Hawk, 

 American Osprey, Great Horned Owl, 

 Kingfisher, DoWny Woodpecker, 

 Flicker, Pileated Woodpecker, Ruby- 

 throated Hummingbird, Kingbird, 

 Blue Jay, Baltimore Oriole, Crow, 

 Goldfinch, Redbird, Towhee Bunting 

 Indigo Bunting, Maryland Yellow- 

 Throat, American Redstart, Catbird, 

 Mockingbird, House Wren, Chick- 

 adee, Bluebird. 



If we had been able to spend more 

 time at the lake this list would have 

 been much longer. The tall forests, 

 with their undergrowth of brush and 

 briars, together with the more open 

 land and cane brakes, bordering on 

 the lake and canal, afford a variety of 

 shelter for our feathered friends, and 

 the number of them present showed 

 that they appreciate the advantages 

 offered by this locality. 



The undergrowth in the swamp is 

 very dense, and in some places there 

 is an abundance of sticky mud, but 

 on the whole the swamp is a pleasant 

 place to visit. Mosquitoes were not at 

 all troublesome on our trip and the 

 natives told me that thej' were not 

 troubled at all with malaria, nor was 

 swamp sickness more prevalent than 

 in other localities. The canal drains 

 the swamp very satisfactorily which 

 may account for the better conditions 

 prevailing there at the present time. 



On September twenty-second we re- 

 turned to Gilmerton. Arriving in 

 Gilmerton in the day-time, we found 

 that an electric road connected Gilmer- 

 ton with Portsmouth and we elected to 

 go by trolley. At Portsmouth we 

 took the ferry for Norfolk arriving 

 there just in time to board the steam- 

 er for Washington. 



The ornithological results of the 

 trip were not as good as I had hoped 

 for. However, we both felt repaid for 

 the trip, in spite of the miserable 

 weather we encountered, and later on 

 I hope to again visit this region when, 



with more time, I hope to establish a 

 larger acquaintance with its fauna. 

 F. P. Drowne, M. D. 

 Providence, R. I. 



Unusual Nesting Sites of the American 



Meganser. i Meganser Americanusj. 



By Walter Raine, Toronto. 



In all ornithological works on North 

 American Birds Nests and Eggs, the 

 nesting situation of this species is given 

 as being in a hole in a tree, after the 

 manner of the Hooded Merganser, 

 Buffle-head, American Golden-eye and 

 Wood Duck. I was therefore very 

 much surprised to find American Mer- 

 gansers nesting in holes under boul- 

 ders on an island in Lake Winnepe- 

 gosis, Manitoba during June 1903. 



My son and I found about thirty 

 pairs nesting on Gun Island in Lake 

 Winnepegosis on June 16, 1903. All 

 the nests that we could reach were built 

 far back at the end of dark passages 

 under the bowlders on the highest part 

 of the island, some nests were five or 

 six feet back from the entrance and 

 very difficult to get at. In one hole 

 we caught a female sitting on its eggs, 

 therefore identification was complete, 

 besides the eggs are easily told from 

 other ducks by their very large size 

 averaging 2.60 x 1.80 and their pale 

 buff tint. The down in the nest is 

 also pale greyish white like that of all 

 ducks that nest in holes in the dark. 



The nests contained respectively 

 9.10, and 12 eggs, one nest contained 

 13 eggs, and one nest contained eggs 

 laid by two females, as could plainly 

 be seen, half the eggs being of a differ- 

 ent shape and darker buff tint than the 

 rest. 



My son caught a female on the nest 

 and tied a fishing line to it and we 

 were surprised to see how fast it could 

 swim under water using its wings for 

 that purpose, it fairly Hew under water, 

 after a while he set it at liberty. The 



