178 NOTES OX NOVA SCOTIAN ZOOLOGY — PIERS. 



were brouo-lit to him, and Mr. Eofan also mounted a number. 

 The birds were extremely thin. To exemplify the courage of this 

 little owl when oppressed by hunger, I may relate the following 

 incident M}^ father, when a boy, possessed a rat which he had 

 trained and taught to draw a small cart. One day he and Mr. 

 George Piers discovered a Saw-whet which they captured and 

 placed in the room with the rat, and waited to see the result. 

 Immediately the owl pounce<l upon the latter and fastened its 

 claws in the animal's back. The rat feeling the bird upon him, 

 ran a few times around a table, and then both fell over, dead. 

 The Saw-whet, evidently in a starved condition, had spent all its 

 energy in killing the rat, so that when the latter succumbed, the 

 former also died from extreme exhaustion. Both owl and rat 

 were given to Mr. Andrew Downs, who stuffed the two, and after-- 

 wards sent them to the first great exhibition held in London, 1862 



Snowy Owl (Nyctea nyctea ) Usually the Snowy Owl is 

 an uncommon visitor, but during occasional seasons they have 

 been rather plentiful. The latter was the case during the winter 

 of 1890-91, and a fair number were shot throughout the province. 

 They were also reported more numerous than usual in other 

 localities. During the same winter, the Snowflake {J\ nivalis), 

 another northern bird, visited us in far greater numbers than 

 has been its wont for many years. I noted man}' flocks of large 

 size. 



American Hawk Owl (Sarnid ulula caparock). This owl 

 has now become very rare. Mr. Andrew Downs was fortunate 

 in securing one early in 1889, and I understand Mr. Austen has 

 two in his collection. 



Yellow-billed Flycatcher ( Em]ndoimx fiavinevtris). On 

 June 29th, 1891, Mr. Austen collected two nests of this species 

 at Dartmouth. They were each about three feet from the 

 ground, the one in the fork of an alder and the other attached 

 by its rim to a spruce-branch. The outside was formed of coarse 

 grass while the lining was of the same material but of a finer 

 kind. Measurements : circumference of top, outside, 10 inches ; 

 diameter and depth of cavity, 2| inches. Each nest contained 

 three eggs whose colour Mr. Austen describes as cream-white 



