34 



THE YOUNG OOLOGIST. 



mens of the Ruffed Grouse are also met 



with, and during the past two winters a 

 covey of Bob-Whites have frequented the 

 barn-j'ard on "Wild "Wood." The Snow 

 Buntings are always here from October 

 till the latter end of March, and the En- 

 glish Sparrow is now a permanent resident 

 and yearly becoming more numerous, but 

 onlj' on one occasion have I ever noticed 

 the Bohemian Chatterers. The Northern 

 Butcher bird always pays us a visit in the 

 coldest months, but though the Pine Gros- 

 beaks were here in large stock in the win- 

 ters of '83 and '84, not a single specimen 

 has been observed this season, and the 

 same may be noted of the Crossbills and 

 the Redpolls. Occasionally a Jinco and a 

 Tree Sparrow have been noticed in the 

 winter months, but this year none have 

 yet been observed, and the same remarks 

 will also apply to all the Owl species, 

 though often some specimens of the Snowy 

 and Great Horned species have been seen 

 and taken in the winter months, and last 

 w'inter a number of the Mottled and Aca- 

 dian Owls were captured in barns and 

 other out buildings in this vicinity. In 

 the early part of Februarj', 1884. I heard 

 the hollow croak of a Raven coming over | 

 the woods, north of the town, and soon | 

 afterwards saw a pair of these birds flying 

 in a southern direction. These were the I 

 onlj' specimens of this species that I ever 

 saw in this neighborhood. 



Specimens of Eagles are also sometimes 

 seen passing over the country. On the 23d 

 of January past I observed a large indi- 

 vidual of the White-headed Eagle a few 

 miles north of the town. When first no- 

 ticed it was soaring away towards the 

 northwest, but it gradually curved around 

 and disappeared in a southward direction. 

 With this exception I have not observed 

 one of these birds in this section for several 

 years past, though occasionally the press 

 reports specimens being shot, or otherwise 

 captured in various parts of the province. 

 On the 33d of February a pair of Shore 

 Larks — the first of our spring birds — were 

 observed. Since then they have became 

 quite numerous iu the streets and on the 



roads in the vicinity of the town. On the 



28th of the same month the notes of the 

 Red-shouldered Hawk were heard, and on 

 the 3d of March a Crow was first seen. 

 Since then man)' others have been noticed. 

 On the28tli the first Robin was seen, and 

 the month closed without any other of our 

 spring birds making their appearance. 

 Wm. L. Kells. 



Listowel, Out. 



Collecting on "Snipe" Creek. 



On the afternoon of Aprii 13tb I started 

 on a collecting trip on ' ' Snipe " creek, 

 about two miles distant. I had the pleas- 

 ure of seeing more rare bird life in short a 

 time than ever before. I reached the 

 timber by 1 o'clock and the first thing that 

 called my attention, was a hole about ten 

 feet up in a dead oak stump, thinking it 

 may contain the nest of the Little Screech 

 Owl, I scrambled up, looked in the cavity, 

 but nothing met my eyes save a few frag- 

 ments of egg-shells, perhaps carried there 

 bj' squirrels. I started my course up the 

 creek and the next that Crossed my path 

 was a Crow's nest in a Red Elm tree, some 

 thirty-five feet from the ground, after 

 climbing up found it contained two eggs, 

 these I left for a set, and I then started 

 back again on the other side of the stream. 

 After walking along narrow paths, climb- 

 ing banks and working my way on through 

 bush and tangled undergrowth, I came 

 upon my second Crow's nest, this con- 

 tained a set of five eggs; not far from this 

 in an oak tree, I took another set of Crow's 

 eggs. I then walked some over a half 

 mile when I run upon a Great Blue 

 Herony. The three nests were all placed 

 in a tall cotton-wood tree, seventj'-five feet 

 from the ground, the Herons were on their 

 nests at the time, but left when I was yet 

 a good distance. The tree had no limbs 

 for forty feet, making it an impossi- 

 bilit}' for a collector to get their eggs. 

 While trying to devise a plan to reach the 

 nests, I chauced to look up the creek wheu 

 I saw a large bird leave its nest, high up 

 in an elm, this was suppo.sed to be a Hawk. 



