NATURE IN ACADIE. 3! 



the region of the Blue Mountains and Gasperaux Lake, 

 and in other places. The nest is usually built in a giant 

 hemlock about the latter part of April or early in May ; 

 it is a large structure, and composed of sticks, weeds, 

 &c., lined with strips of bark and grass. The eggs are 

 two or three in number, and in colour bluish-white, 

 frequently unmarked, but sometimes faintly spotted 

 with yellowish-brown. In size they measure about 2^3 

 inches by 1-8 inches. 



Although not uncommon to the northward of the 

 United States, this fine hawk seldom occurs within the 

 limits of the latter, except as a winter visitor, and owing 

 to its northerly range and inaccessible haunts^ not a 

 great deal is yet known concerning it. 



The three birds previously mentioned were quite 

 adult, and measured fully twenty-three inches in length 

 by about three feet eight inches across the extended 

 wings. The male bird, however, is considerably smaller. 

 This species differs chiefly from the European goshawk 

 (A. palumbanus) in having the upper part of the head 

 deep black, with a partly-concealed patch of white on 

 the nape, and the feathers of the entire lower parts of 

 the body marked transversely with many fine zig-zag 

 dusky lines, each feather also having a fine black 

 central streak. The European goshawk, on the other 

 hand, has the under parts thickly and distinctly barred 

 with ash-brown. The immature bird in the American 

 species, as in the European, has the plumage of the 

 lower parts boldly marked in a longitudinal direction. 



I also found the strikingly-marked harlequin duck to 

 be fairly common in the province about the same date, 

 and I saw many of these birds brought in during the 

 early part of December. 



Some black guillemots were also brought in. By this 

 season of the year the deep black summer plumage of 

 the adult had changed somewhat, the crown being 

 white marked with black, the mantle barred with black 

 and white, and the lower back and under parts of the 

 body almost white. This species breeds commonly on 

 the coasts of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick (notably 



