100 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [P. D. 4. 



"fur countries," a large flight of great horned owls and a smaller 

 flight of goshawks moved into the Canadian provinces just 

 north of New England, and already have appeared here; but 

 for want of space these and other migrating birds must be 

 recorded in detail elsewhere. 



Hooded Merganser in a Nesting Box. 



The first instance of the nesting of a hooded merganser in a 

 nesting box prepared for it (see page 77) is important to all 

 who are interested in the conservation of wild fowl, and al- 

 though it occurred on the Pacific coast the box may be imitated 

 here. Even though such nesting places may not be used by 

 mergansers in this region, they are quite likely to furnish domi- 

 ciles for wood ducks if put up along the banks of secluded 

 streams, or flooded swamps with wooded shores, or even by 

 forest lakes. Mr. J. H. Bowles of Tacoma, Washington, the 

 indefatigable ornithologist who put up the nesting box of which 

 he has kindly forwarded me the photograph, found the box 

 occupied by a hooded merganser's nest with 10 eggs on April 

 21, 1917. He writes me that all his friends considered the 

 boxes as a standing joke, as they believed that any duck as shy 

 as a "hoody" would fly a mile at the sight of one. "You may 

 judge," writes Mr. Bowles, "that it was not easy to carry heavy 

 boxes and a long ladder through such a place, but now I am 

 repaid many times." He does not give the size of the boxes, 

 but wood ducks have nested in a similar box 10 by 10 by 4 

 inches, with a round entrance 3 or 4 inches in diameter and 18 

 inches from the bottom. 



Conservation of Wild Life in Russia. 



During the year a long and fruitful correspondence has been 

 carried on with Georges Brisgualine and Boris Alexandrovitch 

 Zakharoff, Kharkoff, Russia, members of a Russian commission 

 for the conservation of birds and other wild life, who have re- 

 quested information regarding methods in use in the United 

 States. Notwithstanding the terror and confusion caused by the 

 war and the rebeUion, Russia already has established reserva- 



