ORNITHOLOGICAL SUB-SECTION OF THE BIOLOGICAL SECTION. 187 



of arvicolse. By a practical application of theoretical ornithology, I 

 concluded that the best place for the mice, was the part where the 

 hawks had been seeking, and very soon I found the truth of the con- 

 clusion ; as I drew near the hawks left, and I bpgan to see mouse 

 tracks everywhere. A dark object in the top of a reed bush at- 

 tracted my attention, I found it to be a mouse [A. riparius), it was 

 too firmly fixed to have been dropped by a hawk, and I was at a 

 loss to account for its presence in such a situation until presently I 

 descried a Northern Shrike {Lanius borealis) watching me from a 

 distant cat-tail. I tried to get a shot at the butcher, for undoubtedly 

 it was he who had fixed the mouse on the reed top, but he was too shy, 

 each time I drew near he dropped off" nearly to the earth, skimmed 

 so low that it seemed he must graze the gi-ound, until the base of 

 the next perch was reached when up at right angles to the top he 

 would bound with one sudden spreading of his piebald wings and 

 tail. I followed in vain for some time till the Shrike became more 

 alarmed and flew away out of sight. The Rough! egs meanwhile had 

 been sailing about the distant reed-beds when suddenly they were set 

 upon by a flock of a dozen Crows, the latter kept up a noisy persecu- 

 tion that induced the Hawks to move ofi" to some distance, whereupon 

 the Crows satisfied to have scored a great moral victory flew on and 

 all parties concerned renewed their former occupations. Mice proved 

 fairly common but hard to catch alive, two dead specimens including 

 the one stolen from the Shrike's larder, being all I had to show for 

 a morning's work. 



Another Shrike was observed near the Don^ and this, with numer- 

 ous English Sparrows, completed the list of birds observed on this 

 occasion. — Ernest E. Thompson. 



(Fifth Meeting, February 19, 1889). 



40. Early spring birds. — While at Milne's Hollow, eight miles 

 north-east of Toronto, on February 16, I saw numbers of Shore 

 Larks and Bluejays. — Wm. Brodie. 



41. American Goldfinches still with us. — On February 



16, my friend Mr. Gray shot five of the above species. — Daniel 

 G. Cox. 



