356 



ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



The feet appear very short and stout; the tarsi with but seven scutellae, rather 

 longer than the middle toe and claw; the lateral claws about equal, and extending 

 to a little beyond the base of the middle claw; the fourth quill is longest, the 

 third about, equal the fifth, the second considerably longer than the sixth, the first 

 about equal to the eighth primary. 



Length, about twenty-four or twenty-five inches ; extent, fifty to fifty-one ; wing, 

 about seventeen ; tail, ten. Tail moderately graduated; the outer about one and 

 sixty one-hundredths to one and ninety one-hundredths of an inch less than the 

 middle. 



THIS bird is an extremely rare resident in New England. 

 I have never heard of its breeding here ; but it occa- 

 sionally rears its young on the island of Grand Menan, 



off the north-east coast of 

 Maine. There, on the steep 

 and almost inaccessible cliffs, 

 its nest is built. This is com- 

 posed of twigs, sticks, seaweed, 

 and pieces of turf, and is lined 

 with the finer seaweeds and 

 algae found on the seacoast. 



A nest that I found in Ohio 

 was built on a jutting rock in 

 a large cave. On ascending 

 to it, I found that it was built 

 of coarse sticks and twigs, and 

 was lined with leaves, strips 

 of bark, and pieces of moss. 

 This nest had been occupied so a settler told me for a 

 number of years, by the same pair of birds, who made the 

 cave and its surrounding forest their permanent home 

 through the year. 



From its protected situation, it required but few altera- 

 tions and additions each year ; and many of the sticks of 

 which it was composed were quite rotten and decayed. 



It contained five young, about half-grown. As this was 

 on the 18th of March, I judged the eggs must have been 

 laid by the 20th of February. 



The eggs of this species are generally four or five in 



