I04 JOURNAL OK MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



eager, the}^ squeeze their lithe bodies through each narrow opening 

 and inspect the inner chambers with all the care of a newly-made 

 bride on her first 'house-hunting' expedition, and when at last one 

 finds a spot which seems fitting, how" quickly it is communicated to 

 the other. At once the two set to work to furnish the snug little 

 home, enlarging the entrance and smoothing down interior angles 

 and corners. Soon all is prepared to receive the eggs, and anon the 

 full number is ready for the hatching. This plucky little knight, 

 ordinarily the gentlest of creatures, is now brimful of fight if he is 

 disturbed in his home by an}' other of his kind, and there is a good 

 prospect for trouble if the intruder does not leave at once. When 

 the ducklings have arrived and gained a little strength the parent 

 bird takes them in her beak and carries them to the nearest pond, 

 unless, as is often the case, the nest overhangs the water, when she 

 saves herself this trouble by simply pushing them overboard. Then 

 she shows them how to get a living. There are often a dozen in a 

 family, so that it is fortunate that they have only to reach out and 

 take what they want to eat, otherwise the mother might have a hard 

 time of it in providing for her numerous progeny, for the male bird 

 usually deserts his mate at this time, leaving to her all the family 

 cares. The drake spends the summer moulting season away from 

 home with other recreant husbands, and is hardly to be recognized 

 as the same gaudy bird of the spring." 



The Ornithological Magazines. 



The Auk. — The Aiik for October, 1907, contains a graphic 

 account of the great destruction of Lapland Longspurs during a 

 storm in southwestern Minnesota and northwestern Iowa in March, 

 1904, by Dr. Thomas S. Roberts; obser\-ations on Some Birds Pro- 

 cured near Charlestown, S. C, by Arthur T. Wayne;' on Hybrids 

 between the Mallard {Anas boschas) and Certain other Ducks, by 

 Henry B. Bigelow; The Birds of Custer and Dawson Counties, 

 Montana, by E. S. Cameron; vSummcr Birds of Southwestern Sas- 



