^°'i909 1 Cole, Destruction of Birds at Niagara Falls. 63 



Icteria virens longicauda. Long-tailed Chat. — A common breeder at 

 Osoyoos; rare at Vernon. 



Oroscoptes montanus. Sage Thrasher. — This is another species the 

 addition of which to the Canadian list is due to the energy of Mr. Green. 

 He reports it as a scarce local breeder in the sage brush country of Osoyoos 

 district, and has sent me a handsome set of four eggs with the male bird 

 collected 21st June of this year. 



THE DESTRUCTION OF BIRDS AT NIAGARA FALLS. 



BY LEON J. COLE. 



In his interesting account, in the July 'Auk,' of the destruction 

 of a large number of Whistling Swans at Niagara Falls, on May 15, 

 1908, Fleming x mentions that birds have been killed by going 

 over the Falls in times past. In this same connection the follow- 

 ing extracts from what is said to be the first description of Niagara 

 Falls published in the English language may be of interest to 

 ornithologists. The extracts are from "A Letter from Mr. Kalm, 

 a Gentleman of Sweden, now on his Travels in America, to his 

 Friend in Philadelphia; containing a particular Account of the 

 Great Fall of Niagara," written at Albany, September 2, 1750. 

 This account first came to my notice in the recent excellent mono- 

 graph on 'The Falls of Niagara,' by Professor Spencer, 2 in which 

 it is republished as an appendix; but in quoting I have taken di- 

 rectly from a reprint of the original account of John Bartram 3 



1 Fleming, James H. The destruction of Whistling Swans {Olor columbianus) 

 at Niagara Falls. Auk, Vol. XXV, pp. 306-309, 1908. 



2 Spencer, Joseph William Winthrop. The Falls of Niagara; their evolution and 

 varying relations to the Great Lakes; characteristics of the power, and the effects 

 of its diversion. Canada Dept. of Mines, Geol. Surv. Branch, 1905-6, xxxii + 490 

 pp., pis. and maps. 1907. 



3 Observations | on the | Inhabitants, Climate, Soil, Rivers, Productions, I Ani- 

 mals, and other matters worthy of Notice. | Made by | Mr. John Bartram, | in his 

 Travels from | Pensilvania | to | Onondago, Oswego and the. Lake Ontario, | In 

 Canada. | To which is annex'd, a curious Account of the | Cataracts at Niagara. | 

 By Mr. Peter Kalm, | A Swedish Gentleman who travelled there. | London: | Printed 

 for J. Whiston and B. White, in | Fleet-Street, 17.51. [Reprinted by W. F. Hum- 

 phrey, Geneva, N. Y., 1895.] viii + 94 pp. 



