NOTES ON NOVA SCOTIAN ZOOLOGY—PIERS. 261 
rufous) margined with whitish on outer edge; legs and bill dark- 
brown; eyes brown. Measurements: wing, 12.90 in.; tail, 
7.50; exposed culmen, 1.93; depth of bill at base, .92; tarsus, 
2a. 
BoBouink (Dolichonyxz oryzivorus). Asis well known, this 
bird is now exceedingly rare at Halifax, although formerly it 
was rather common. On the marshes in the western parts of the 
province it is still very abundant. On May 20th. 1895, while 
walking past a field in the western part of Halifax, my ears 
were saluted by the rollicking, gurgling notes of a Bobolink, and 
I saw a fine male in full plumage sitting on the top rail of a 
fence. His notes brought to my mind the flat, diked lands of 
Grand Pré and Windsor. I went over a wall after him and 
soon he flushed out of the wet grass and in full song flew to the 
top-rail of a neighbouring fence, where he alternately pruned his 
feathers and sang his glorious song. This ditty begins with a 
few metallic notes, somewhat bell-like in tone, from which 
the singer proceeds helter skelter into an inimitable rush of 
liquid, light-hearted music. 
On May 28th, 1897, I heard another Bobolink singing in a 
swampy bit of grass-land on the side of Chebucto Road, near 
the North West Arm, Halifax. 
In May, 1896, my friend Mr. Walter Brett, of Sackville, 
N.S.,showed me a specimen which he had collected at that 
place. He also informs me that during the spring he saw two 
males: one at Sackville and the other on the Bedford rifle-range. 
Still another, a young male, was taken by him on September 
13th, 1897. It therefore is evident that the bird is found occa- 
sionally on the meadows bordering the Sackville River. 
Merapow Lark (Sturnella magna). On October 24th, 1895, 
a Meadow Lark was obtained by Mr. Dickie, of Canning, King’s 
Co. The bird is very rare in this province. 
BRONZED GRACKLE (Quiscalus quiscalu ceneus). On Novem- 
ber 9th, 1894, one of these Grackles was shot on the Preston 
