THE MUSEUM. 



A Monthly Magazine Devoted to Research in Natural Science. 



Vol. III. 



ALBION, N. Y., J.ULY 15, 1897. 



No. 9 



A Week's Egg Collecting in 

 Ontario- 



\V. Brewer and I went to Morris- 

 burp, Ont., on May 29th at 1:30. We 

 arrived there at 6:05, got our board- 

 ing house and felt very much satisfied 

 as the house was near the river and 

 we had the full view of the long 

 marshes and the surrounding islands. 



May 30th we got up at 5:15 a. m., 

 got our lunch and started to walk 

 down the track east for a mile and a 

 half. First thing we saw was an old 

 dead maple tree about 45 feet high in 

 the middle of a field near G. T. R. 

 track. My friend walked up and hit 

 the tree with a small hatchet and out 

 flew a Red-headed Woodpecker. I 

 climbed up and got a beautiful set of 

 six fresh eggs. Hole was 40 feet from 

 ground, iS inches deep, 2}, inches in 

 diameter. We stood looking at the 

 tree for a while and saw about 1 5 

 more holes in the same tree. Then I 

 walked up and hit the tree and out 

 ilew an American Sparrow Hawk and 

 a Swallow. I was thunderstruck at 

 seeing the Hawk and Sparrow fly out 

 at the same time and the holes they 

 flew from were about 10 inches apart. 

 However I climbed up to the Swal- 

 low's nest and got a set of 6, incubat- 

 ed so heavily that they were impossi- 

 ble to blow. Hole 8 inches deep by 

 2 inches in diameter. 



Then I looked for the Hawk's nest 

 but could not find it. I came down 

 again and walked away for a while 

 and then I came back. My friend hit 

 the tree while I watched and out flew 

 the Hawk from the highest hole in the 

 4;ree. I climbed up and shaped the 



hole big enough for my hand to enter 

 and got a beautiful set of 5, incubated. 

 All the time the female Hawk flew 

 around ni}' head. At one time she 

 came within a few inches of my head. 

 Hole was 18 inches deep by 35 inches 

 in diameter. Eggs were creamy white 

 clouded with brown spots and some 

 were spotted. 



I spoke to several of our collectors 

 in Montreal about finding the Hawk, 

 \\'oodpecker and Swallow in the same 

 tree and they said they never knew or 

 saw anything like it in all their days 

 of collecting. It seems such a strange 

 thing for a small bird to nest in the 

 same tree as a bird of prey. 



We returned to our boarding house 

 at 5:15 p. m. with three bo.xes of 

 eggs. Sandpipers, Plovers, Woodpeck- 

 ers, Song Sparrows, Black Martins 

 and several others. Blow our eggs 

 and go to bed at 9:15. 



Get up ne.xt morning at 6:30, May 

 31st. We go down to the river and 

 look at it for a while and see it is very 

 dangerous. Whirlpools and boilers 

 and the current running i 5 miles per 

 hour. So we go and get a guide and 

 he takes us all around the islands. 



We struck a long marsh at the back 

 of one of the islands and found a col- 

 ony of Red-winged Bluebirds. We 

 took about 20 sets each. We went 

 up to another island and found anoth- 

 er big marsh where I found American 

 Bittern, 5 eggs heavily incubated; nest 

 in a clump of grass composed of reeds. 

 Further up on the islands we got Bob- 

 olinks, Meadow Larks and a few King 

 birds. Then we came back to our 



