45 



NOTES BIOLOUICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL. 



HYPERGENESIS. 



A gentleman living near Chatham has a very prolific cow. 

 as the following birth record shows : 



1892, 1, her first ; '94, 3, still-born ; '95, 1, still-born ; '96, 5, 

 still-born ; '97, 4, all alive but djdng within a week. There was 

 nothing unusual in her family history. J. McG. B. 



ACAUD/VTE FOWLS. 



There is in Chatham a breed of such. They were brought 

 from Halifax, Nova Scotia, fifty years ago, and differ in no other 

 respect from ordirary barn-yard fowls. The spinal column ends 

 at the sacrum, the last vertebra of which is opisthocoelous, and 

 the uropygial gland and rectriees are wanting. The character- 

 istic seems to persist strongly, and assert itself among crosses, 

 some of which may show two rectriees, the outer on each side. 

 J. McG. B. 



RARE WINTER VliSITOKS. 



Several Juncos or Snow-birds, Junco hiernalis L., were seen 

 from time to time at Bushville, near Chatham, during the winter 

 of 1896-7. The season had not been a severe one. It is the only 

 occurrence of the kind known to the writer. 



Feb. nth, 1899, Mr. James Fallen saw Wilson's Snipe, Grd- 

 fexn't/o cle/icafrt, by the side of White's Brook, a few miles from 

 Chatham. The bird seemed active and strong, and was feeding, 

 over a muddy spot from which the snow had melted. The 

 winter had been severe, and'^noAv was covering the ground to 

 the depth of two feet or more. 



AN INTERESTING RELIC. 



Among ruins of an old French post on Miscou Island, Glou. 

 Co., which tradition ascribes to Nicolas Denys, was found, some 

 years ago, a bronze vase, date 1601. Though somewhat injured 

 by fire, the relic is well preserved. It is now among the curios 

 of the fanjily of the late Alex. McDougall, Esq., of Oak Point, 

 Miramichi. 



