48 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VoL. I. 



dull white with a mottling of bay dots towards the larger end, and a 

 slight sprinkling of the same hue on other ])arts of the surface ; in 

 size they are somewhat more oblong than those of the Black-capped 

 Chickadee. 



I might also remark that I noticed the individuals of this species 

 very active during the thaw in the latter part of December last and 

 the beginning of the present year, but I did not see or hear the bird 

 : gain until the 6th of April — Wm. L. Kells, Listowel, Out., 1885. 



33. Dryobates villosus and its prey.— Some time ago I saw a 

 Hairy Woodpecker pegging away at a stick of dry cordwood in my yard. 

 I took an axe and split the stick, and found in its centre a large white 

 grub, the larva of a Tremex columha (Dru.) 



34, Trochilus colutaris and Spiders. — I have captured more 

 than one Kuby-throated Humming Bird with its legs, bill and wings 

 enveloped in spider's web, proving the correctness of the assertion of cer- 

 tain naturalists that humming birds prey upon some of the smaller species 

 of the ¥ -(imWy Arachnida3. — Kev. Vincent Olementi, Peterboro, Ont., 1885. 



35. Ooccyzus erythropthalmus. — In regard to erratic nesting of 

 the Black-billed Cuckoo I have been collecting as "much evidence as 

 possible, not wishing to insist too much on my own observations. The 

 three cases detailed were under the notice of several perfectly reliable 

 observers, and, of course, I was a witness myself. I think you need not 

 have the slightest hesitation in accepting the notes as scrupulously ac- 

 curate, as anything of a problematical nature has been carefully 

 eliminated. Of course, it is to be regretted that full details were 

 not jotted down as the cases occurred, and it is possible that even 

 now some ornithologists will not be convinced by anything short of the 

 identical young Cuckoos — however, it is useless to make regrets, and I 

 doubt not the young Cuckoos have long passed that age when they 

 would be easily recognizable as the heroes of my story. 



The observations were made at Elora, and the statements are cor- 

 roborated by my father and sister. 



The arrival of the Cuckoo in our garden was always an event taken 

 particular notice of, and, as the bird was comparatively rare, its move- 

 ments were carefully watched. It had a clean reputation during its first 

 season, and if it did any " hatching by proxy " no one was clever enough 

 to discover the fact, and several years passed before we were forced to 

 acknowledge that our Cuckoo had become as degenerate as its British 

 relative, and losing the respectable character generally accredited to the 



