NOVA SCOTIAX ZOOLOGY — PIERS. 405 



Purcell on 4th February, 1892. It had been shot about a week 

 before, in the vicinity of Upper Rawdon, Hants County. 



Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus). I 

 find in Mr. Egan's collection one specimen in full plumage, which 

 he informs me is the only one he has ever seen during the time 

 he has practiced taxidermy in this city. It was shot at Ketch 

 Harbour, about ten years ago, and is to be considered as a mere 

 -accidental visitor. Mr. Downs only mentioned it as such. 

 Strange to say, it is a common summer resident, and probably 

 the Itest known of the woodpeckers, from Ontario westward to 

 the Rocky Mountains. 



Chuck-will's-widow ( Antrostomiis caroliiiensis). Mr. Mc- 

 Kinlay writes me that three years ago, toward the end of 

 October, a countryman of Pictou picked up near his barn -yard 

 a specimen of the CaprimulgidaB, which was so weakened by 

 cold and hunger that it expired almost immediately after being 

 taken in the hand. It was mounted b}^ Mr. S. Dawson, and is 

 now in the museum of Pictou Academy. My informant and Mr. 

 W. A. Hickman, who recently examined the bird at my request, 

 state most positiveh' that it has lateral filaments on the bristles 

 on the side of the upper mandible. This is a characteristic of 

 the Chuck-will's-widow, and distinguishes it from all its con- 

 veners. It was carefully compared with Audubon's description, 

 with which it agrees. There is a yellowish streak upon the 

 throat, but not a white patch as is sometimes the case. The 

 outer tail-feathers are devoid of white, showing that the 

 specimen is a female. The wings are barred with j^ellowish 

 red, and minutely sprinkled with brownish black. The exact 

 length could not be ascertained with certainty, but is probably 

 about eleven or twelve inches. Mr. McKinlay says "it may in 

 all sincerity be pronounced a bona-fide Chuck-will's-widow," 

 It was reported, he says, that the cries of the species had been 

 heard at certain times, but such, he continues, has not been 

 properly substantiated. At first I was very doubtful about in- 

 .■serting the species in my notes, for it seemed more probable that 

 -the specimen was a Whippoorwill, whose upper parts are some- 

 what similar in colour ; later information, however, — especially 



