2IO Cox on Rare Nezv Brunswick Birds. [July 



ing itself with offal, it would feed indiscriminately on the grain, 

 potatoes, etc., cast to the barn-yard fowls, seemingly never sat- 

 isfied. 



I saw it also by night, perched a few feet above a stable floor ; 

 and in the presence of a lamp it acted very much like an ordin- 

 ary fowl, except that it manifested a desire to hide its head from 

 the glare of the light. During the whole period of its captivity, 

 extending over three weeks, the bird made, it would seem, no 

 attempt to fly ; and this fact, added to its apparent stupidity, in- 

 clined me to believe that it had received some injury. I pur- 

 chased it from the owner, who killed and sent it to me. Upon 

 skinning the specimen, I discovered the cause of the blindness, 

 for a small shot, probably a No. 6, was found imbedded under 

 the edge of the iris of the withered ball. The pellet was encysted, 

 and very much oxydized, showing it had been lodged there some 

 time. Moreover, two similar pellets were detected, one under 

 the skin on the left side, the other on the arm of the left wing ; 

 while the arm of the right wing had lately been pierced by a large 

 shot, ploughing the muscle open and passing through the fleshy 

 part of the shoulder, forming an ugly wound. The surrounding 

 parts were very much discolored and inflamed. Such an injury 

 must certainly have destroyed the bird's power of flight, and ac- 

 counts, to a certain extent, for its apparently rapid domestica- 

 tion, and the aversion it showed to flying, but does not bear out 

 the alleged manner in which it was captured. 



This poor creature had evidently had a rough experience. Its 

 was the checkered career of a tramp Ishmaelite, with every man's 

 gun against it ; and we cannot help regretting that its flight to 

 these boreal regions to escape its southern tormentors, resulted 

 so fatally to itself. 



I am also informed by a gentleman who saw the bird after it 

 was killed, that a Turkey Buzzard was shot five years ago in the 

 vicinity of Kingston, Kent Co., about forty miles southeast of 

 this town, and near the seashore. 



The only other records known to me of their occurrence in 

 northern localities, along the Atlantic sea-board are those of two 

 taken in Massachusetts in 1863, and one reported from St. Stephen 

 by Mr. Bbardman, date not given. Nequac and Black Brook are, 

 however, two hundred mi'es north of St. Stephen, and the differ- 

 ence in average summer temperature is even greater than would 



