12 Bird-Nesting 



a height of thirteen hundred feet, with its summit hid in 

 the clouds. For years a pair of golden eagles have had an 

 eyrie at the north side of Thunder Cape, but as the nest is in- 

 accessible either from above or below, the birds rear their 

 young in safety. The birds are to be seen every spring hover- 

 ing above the cliff near their eyrie. To the west, twenty miles 

 away, we can plainly see McKay's Mountain. Pie Island lies 

 in the mouth of the bay like a huge monitor at anchor. These 

 three gigantic upheavals dominate the scene, and sit in massive 

 dignity, superior to all surrounding objects. At the hotel at 

 Port Arthur are a fine pair of perigrine falcons, taken from a 

 nest in a cliff on Pie Island. The duck hawk is somewhat 

 plentiful in this district, and a native Ornithologist of Port 

 Arthur informs me he knows of several nests. They are usu- 

 ally built in the cliffs, and are only reached by the aid of ropes, 

 and with great difficulty and risk, hence the eggs of this bird 

 are scarce in collections, and will continue to be so. There are 

 very few Oologists who possess eggs of this falcon which are 

 collected on this continent ; most of the eggs of this species in 

 collections are from Europe, where the birds are more plenti- 

 ful. The eggs of the peregrine falcon are very beautiful. I 

 have a series of twenty eggs before me ; they vary much in 

 colouring ; some have a creamy or pinky white ground, heavily 

 mottled and blotched with reddish brown of different shades, 

 in some cases the rich markings almost conceal the ground 

 colour. The usual number of eggs found in a nest is four, 

 sometimes only three are laid. The train is now ready to 

 start, and the cry is heard, " all on board ! " and we run on to 

 Fort William, three miles west of Port Arthur, where one 

 hour is allowed for dinner. 



Port Arthur and Fort William have a population of about 

 six thousand, and are the chief lake ports of Lake Superior. 

 Large numbers of steamers and other lake craft arrive and 

 depart daily. The fine steamships of the Canadian Pacific 

 Company ply between here and Owen Sound. At Fort Wil- 

 liam are some of the largest grain elevators in the world. 



The train runs along the banks of the Kaministiquia River 



