Bird-Nesting 



water, and are difficult to shoot. In some districts they art- 

 called hell-divers. Like the loons, they are awkward on land, 

 from the posterior position of their legs ; the birds stand 

 almost upright when walking. 



Leaving the eggs on the margin of the lake, and erecting a 

 stick as a landmark so that I could find the spot on my return. 

 1 walked along the margin of the lake for nearly two miles. 

 but only found eggs of the coot, black tern, Carolina crake, 

 yellow-headed and red-winged black-birds. As it was nearly 

 seven o'clock, and my dinner had long since digested, I turned 

 I iack, gathering the eggs previously collected on my way to 

 the cabin. For supper the bill of fare was improved, consist- 

 ing of milk, bread and butter and a couple of boiled eggs. 

 How I longed for a nice piece of juicy beef -steak and a cup of 

 good tea; but I had to be contented with that which was 

 placed before me. 



The proprietor told me a boy had some eggs for me, includ- 

 ing sparrow hawks and others, so after supper I went to the 

 station and looked him up. 



The so-called sparrow hawks turned out to be a nice set of 

 the pigeon hawks, which he had collected in one of the bluffs 

 near Raeburn. I bought all the eggs he had for fifty cents. 



The pigeon-hawk breeds sparingly throughout Manitoba and 

 Assiniboia, and is more plentiful in the Saskatchewan region. 

 It also breeds in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick. Before 

 me are three clutches. 



A set of four eggs were collected by J. D. McMurrich at Lake 

 St. Joseph, Muskoka, Ontario, June 15th, 1891. The nest was 

 in a tall pine, and made of sticks and moss. The eggs are \ cry 

 handsome : they remind one of the eggs of the European 

 kestril in style of colouring, but they are smaller and more 

 elongated. The ground colour is yellowish buff, and it is 

 almost concealed by the heavy blotches of rich ruddy In-own. 



A second clutch of four eggs were collectei 1 near Minnedosa, 

 Manitoba, June 2nd, 1891. Nest in a fir tree, made of sticks 

 and leaves. A third clutch were collected near Quebec. May 

 24th, 1891. The eggs vary in colour, even from the same nest : 



