ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 16-No. 5 



prospect of a storm and my companion was 

 suffering from a boil on liis hand, wliicli was 

 aggravated by the constant rowing, we made 

 for the spot and pitched our tent. 



We found the brook dry and only a small 

 puddle umler the lOot of a tree, but our man 

 had gone, and we were in such shape tliat we 

 thought it best to stay where we were. 



The next five days were spent about camp, 

 as there was much to be done, and my friend's 

 hand was so bad tliat he could hardly use it at 

 all. Forest tires were all around us, and doing 

 a vast amount of damage, and we were afraid 

 that we would get burned out. 



On the 5th I shot a brook trout weighing 

 two and a half pounds, and got one young 

 Golden-eye out of a flock. 



The boils which have been troubling Mr. 

 Cahoou liave now broken out on me, and we 

 are a badly la/iied-up pair, but as his riglit 

 arm and my left are all right we get along 

 very well in rowing, — one pair of liaiuls 

 between us. 



On tlie 11th, on account of the scarcity of 

 water liere, and the quality of it after getting 

 the little, we decided to move our cam|i to 

 Xorris Arm, farther up the bay. 



It was rather a bad day, but we pulled dnwii 

 and loaded the dory. 



When we got outside the point away from 

 under the lee, we found the waves running 

 high, and for a time we thought that we must 

 swamp, but we lightened her by throwing over 

 tiie tent-i>oles, and began to ride a little easier. 

 We had to cross to the opjiosite shore, two and 

 a half miles away, and for a time it looked as 

 if we would have to swim for it, and lose all 

 our outfit. Once we rode on the top of one 

 wave, plunged into the next, shipping lialf a 

 barrel of watei-, and we thought we were gone, 

 but Gaboon rowed like a tiger and we finally 

 got under the lee of the other side and shipping 

 the mast and rudder, we sailed down the Arm, 

 and landed at our new (piarters. 



We had lost our tent-poles, making it rather 

 difficult to pitch the tent, and we were com- 

 pletely tired out when we were ready to 

 turn in. 



The ducks are coming in quite well, but are 

 very wild and hard to get at witliout sailing 

 upon them with the dory. 



1 got into a flock of about sixty Scoters ('.'), 

 a few old birds, but mostly young, and did not 

 get a single bird, as they separated and dove 

 out of sight. 



Birds are very scarce here. On the 14th I 

 got a Semipalmated Plover and a Spotted 



Sandpiper; and on the 15th a Greater Yellow- 

 legs and some Common Tern. The only life 

 here which seems to be plentiful is gnats and 

 black-flies, and they are terrible; whenever 

 the latter strikes he draws blood. 



On the Kith we sailed up the river, and 

 struck into the woods toward the ponds. 

 After walking about four miles into the inter- 

 ior we found a large one, whicli we hope to 

 explore to-morrow. Caribou tracks plenty. 

 (iot Osprey iind Water Thrush. Birds not at 



all plenty. 



(Tc» he continued.) 



Hints on Measuring Heights. 



As the collecting season is just commencing 

 perhaps I may be allowed to ofl'er a few sug- 

 gestions relating to ea.sy methods of estimating 

 tlie height of nesting-sites. A.ssuming that 

 every person knows his own stature it is con- 

 venient, where the nests are situated not more 

 than ten or twelve feet from the ground, to 

 approximate the height by taking that of the 

 cidlector as a basis of computation. 



The writer has found that very high nests 

 may be successfully treated by counting tlie 

 number of whorls of branches between them 

 and the ground. As it is much easier to esti- 

 1 mate the length of a short object, the average 

 distance between the whorls should be 

 "guessed at," and the result obtained be mul- 

 tiplied by the entire number of whorls. 



Taunton, Mass. Harry (lonloH U'liiti-. 



More Hints on Measuring Heights. 



The renin rks of Mr. White in this number 

 (if O. tt O. bring to mind my old method of 

 getting heiglitsof bird.s' nests, wliiidi brings it 

 down to an absolute certainty if desirable, but 

 can be used only when there is a more or less 

 clear view of nest. 



The apparatus cimsists of two sticks, each 

 two feet long, lashed together at right angles 

 in the centre. 



Walk back to a point where, by pl.acing one 

 point of the cross upon the ground and sight- 

 ing across two other points, the nest is brought 

 in line. Then measure the distance from this 

 point to the foot of the tree and add one foot 

 for variation of the improvised theodolite, and 

 and you have the distance exactly, by the old 

 rule that two triangles of similar sides and 

 angles are in proixntion. A slight variation 

 of this process will cover all iiregulaiities of 

 tlie ground. Fniiik A. lintm. 



