294 Mousley, Birds of Hatley, Quebec. [jjjy 



123. Podilymbus podiceps (Linnseus). Pied-billed Grebe. — Not 

 uncommon fall migrant. So far I have not come across any of these birds, 

 but Mr. Greer tells me he has seen them occasionally but has never mounted 

 any. Mr. Stephen Clarke of Hatley Centre however, informs me that he 

 has shot a few on Lake Massawippi, usually in the month of September, and 

 on one occasion when fishing in the company of Mr. Fleming of New York, 

 he obtained three at one shot. On this gentleman relating the incident to 

 some of his friends the story was put down as " another of those fishing 

 yarns " from the fact that these birds in company with Loons are generally 

 looked upon (to a large extent erroneously) as being almost unshootable, 

 from their habit of rapidly diving at the flash or report of a gun, hence the 

 local names of devil diver or hell diver which this species enjoys. 



124. Gavia immer (Briinnich). Loon. — Fairly common fall transient. 

 My authority for including this species in my list rested at first on two 

 mounted examples belonging to Mr. A. Murray of Ferncliff, Massawippi, 

 one of which was shot on Lake Massawippi about twenty years ago, whilst 

 the other was taken about the same time entangled in some fishing tackle. 

 Mr. Greer however, informs me that he generally gets a few to mount most 

 years, but never in the spring, only fall birds, and these, with only one 

 exception, immatures. 



125. Uria lomvia lomvia (Linnseus). Brunnich's Murre. — Rare 

 transient. Probably this bird is more of an accidental transient than 

 anything else, being blown inland by easterly gales, one of which had been 

 raging just previous to two examples being obtained on the river Massa- 

 wippi, just below the village of North Hatley, on December 10, 1917. 

 One of these two was shot by Mr. J. Robert of North Hatley and 

 weighed 1 lb., 2 oz., the other by Mr. Alec McKay of Hatley Centre, 

 which bird weighed 2 lbs. 1 oz. Both were in the hands of Mr. Greer 

 (when I saw them on December 12) and were still in the flesh, waiting to 

 be skinned and mounted for their respective captors. The great difference 

 in the above weights would no doubt be accounted for, by one being practi- 

 cally an adult, the other an immature. Mr. J. E. Harting in his ' Hand- 

 book of British Birds ' 1901, p. 470, gives the weight of lomvia as 2 lbs., 

 10 oz., and that of troile as 2 lbs. 5 oz., whilst Mr. Thos. H. Nelson in his 

 'The Birds of Yorkshire,' 1907, p. 721, gives the average weight of the 

 latter as 2 lbs. 



126. Rissa tridactyla tridactyla (Linnseus). Kittiwake. — Rare 

 and accidental transient. My authority for including this species in my 

 list rests on a single immature example which Mr. Greer mounted for 

 Mr. Clarence W. Clarke of Nepperhan Heights, Yonkers, N. Y., who on 

 August 17, 1912, whilst staying at North Hatley, captured the bird on Lake 

 Massawippi under somewhat peculiar circumstances, as will be seen from 

 the following extract of a letter dated October 30, 1917, which Mr. Clarke 

 wrote me on the subject. He says, " I was angling for bass, using live 

 minnows for bait, without any sinker, the minnows swimming near the 

 surface, when I noticed a lone bird circling around the boat. I had about 



