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the pleasurable sensations of the male bird. It is indeed his tender love 

 song-, expressing his affection and attachment to his mate, who is patiently 

 sitting on four round white eggs in a hollow tree near by. The Acadian 

 Owl has another note, which we frequently hear in autumn, after the 

 breeding season is over! The parent birds, then accompanied by their 

 young, while hunting their prey during a bright moonlight night, produce 

 a peculiar note resembling a suppressed moan or low whistle. The account 

 given by Capt. Carver, in 17C6, and generally supposed to be true, until 

 recently, is as follows: "The Whet-Saw is of the Cuckoo kind, being, 

 like that, a solitary bird, and scarcely ever seen. In the summer months 

 it is heard in the groves, when it makes a noise like the filing of a saw, from 

 which circumstance it has received its name." The identity of this bird 

 with the Acadian Owl has not, to my knowledge, been detected by any 

 ornithologist, with the exception of Mr. Audubon. The little Acadian, to 

 avoid the constant annoyance of all the birds he meets by day, and blinded 

 by the light of the sun, retires in the morning, his feathers wet with dew, 

 and rumpled with the hard struggles he has encountered in securing his 

 prey, to the gloom of the forest or thick swamp, where, perched near the 

 trunk of a tree, he sleeps and snores through a summer's day, a perfect pic- 

 ture of a used-up little fellow, suffering from the sad effects of a night's 

 debauch. But such is not the case, for he is an honest bird, notwithstand- 

 ing his late hours and idle sleepy days. He is also moderate in his appe- 

 tites, and never indulging in any habits, except those given him by the 

 Allwise Giver. He is, moreover, domestic in his tastes, and the father of an 

 interesting family close at hand in a hollow white-birch, and is ever ready 

 to give them his support and protection. Having thus brought forward the 

 Acadian Owl to the notice of your correspondent, who had supposed, judg- 

 ing from its note, that it was an undiscovered species of the Grosbeak, he 

 will be pleased to place him on his list of singing birds, say just below the 

 Whippoorwill. Had we time and space we should like here to say some- 

 thing in regard to the Grosbeaks, as a great deal of confusion appears to 

 exist in this genus of birds. Our love for birds will not permit us to close 

 this communication without speaking a good word in favor of our little owl. 

 And we do it the more readily because he is not mischievous in his habits, 

 as some of his cousins are supposed to be, of a larger growth. The great 

 numbers of mice and large nocturnal insects he destroys, should insure him 

 protection from the farmer and horticulturist. — S. P. Fowler, Danvers- 

 port, March 18, 1856. 



Kalmia glauca. — I left Massachusetts when quite young, but I recollect 

 an evergreen shrub, quite common in the swamps in Worcester County : it 

 is a very straggling growing shrub, with dark green leaves, something like 

 the rhododendron, with pale pink flowers, I think, in May. I have been 

 long anxious to obtain some of the same, as I think they would prove hardy 

 here. Should you know the shrub, will you inform me, through the columns 

 of the Magazine, of its name, and if for sale in any of the nurseries. — 

 Respectfully your obedient servant, L. Fairbanks, Whitby, C. W., 29/A Feb.i 

 1856. 



