94 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 10-No. 6 



sofiiis a VH'liilotl pair until quite )ato in Septcmlwr. 



The (.'art)lina Kail, (l\>r!<iii>i roitiliiuiy is com- 

 nuini iluring llio sniuiuor anionj; tho ixhhIs and 

 ruslu's ixiund tho lakes, wheiv it also bi-oeds. 



lu the oiien and less fn^iuented pans of the 

 eouulry, like the s.-uul-hills south ot Oarberrv and 

 the pniiries of the Tpper Assiniboine, the Saml- 

 liill I'nine, {GriiD pr,il,ii.ti.O brveds prelly oon>- 

 ntonly. Tliey oIVmi feed in the swamps, and their 

 loud, coarse, i^ttlini: eroak may be heard for 

 long distances when their solitudes are invadtnl. 

 Their spivd when on f<>ot is very considerable. 

 1 one day dmve across a moist portion of country 

 after a pair, which for a short time seenu'd inclined 

 to rely for safety on their leirs rather than on their 

 wings. Ouring SeptemlH>r small partitas of fl\in\ 

 ten to twenty weri" sihmi aunost daily passing over 

 soulhwanl at an immense height, and attracting 

 attention by their loud crxviking, which gradually 

 diet! away in the distjince.as the binls disapiwaroil. 



Puring the whole of the Autumn the south- 

 ward migration ol wild fowl was very noticeable. 

 I'mil late in Septemlu'r small flocks of tlxtm 

 twenty to thirty Wild Gtvso were often to be 

 seen tlying over, generally in the shape of a well- 

 marked V. They generally went towards the 

 south or southeast, which latter especially i.s, 1 

 understand, the gxnieral dinvtion of the autumnal 

 migration over Manitolui ; so that it seems pr\>l>a- 

 ble that the birds in coming from the extn>me 

 Xorth, follow the line of great lakes extending 

 fttmt the (ire.at Hear Lake to Lake Winnipeg, af- 

 terwartls t'olhnving the valley of the Krti Hiver, 

 cr\>ssing the narn.nv watershinl into the valley of 

 the Mississippi, and wending their way along it 

 still further to the sonthwanl. Huring this Au- 

 tumnal movement the number of ducks frtHjuent- 

 ing the lakes and ponds throughout Manitoba is 

 prvHligious. 1 shall not soon forgiM the hundnnls 

 I saw on the innumerable ponds InnwetMi Kspid 

 City and the l)ak Kiver. whilst on an excursion 

 towarils Fori V:ilice, in the middle of October. 

 1883. Vet tha<e 1 saw must have bi>en as nothing 

 companxl with.the abimdaiu-ejo be seen in some 

 other plaix-s. A frieiul who had si'veral days' 

 shooting at Totog»m, near the t>oulh end ol Lake 

 Manitoba, aluml the end of September, descrilH>s 

 the ducks ,is being st> nnmerxnis thai only the 

 terms ""acrt"*" and " millions" cwild .ndennately 

 express their abundance. The m)<.iority were 

 Mallanls, \.1»<K< ^'.•i^•<?.v.) but there were also Blne- 

 wince«f teal, ^(^>llfrqlloi>lh1 rf**»ri(,> Ureen-winged 

 Teal, (Q. cor»ltHfiifi.\) Scaups, {h\lij- >w<iri?<i,> and 

 others. The >[allarv1, with \-arious Shovellers, 

 Scaups, Pintails, and Te:>l, brinxls rv-giiKvly in the 

 lakes and sloughs. When iravcliug iow.irds Win- 



nipeg by the line running northward from the 

 l"nil«l Stall's boundary on June 13th last (1884), 

 1 SJiw many newly-hatcheil broods of ducklings, 

 both Teal and ^LtUard, swimming about m the 

 ditch lu-side the track; the old bittls rose and 

 flew oil" i»s the train approached. At least two 

 species of Tern breed very abundantly on the 

 islands in some of the larger lakes, while several 

 Grebes aiv i\ol luicouunou in the Siime situations, 

 lu conclusion, I will only add that there still is 

 in Jlanitoba a large lield for ornithological work. 

 If only a few of tho many young men of good 

 eduoalion wlui have nvcnlly emigratcii thither 

 could be persuaded to turn some of their atten- 

 tion to the study of its binls, many highly inter- 

 i-sling facts would certainly be brought to light. 



Brief Notes. 



PkCTI.I.VKI.Y M.KItKKlt Ec.tlS OK THE Goi.DKN 



E.voLK. — 1 have just received a set of two Golden 

 Eagle's eggs that are dilToront frtim anything I 

 ever s,aw before. They were colUvted from a 

 iH>st that I have known of for several years p.Hsl, 

 and though it has Ihhmi robbetl several times, iMith 

 of esgrs and young binls, the old Eagles n'turn 

 every Spring to the same nest, which is plaixxUm 

 a kHigi'. on the side of a clitl", tho only manner of 

 n\acbiug, is to be lowennl over the e»lg«' of the clilf 

 by a n>pe. The set jnst montionoil wore taken in 

 Man-h of this year, eggs won> fn^h and old bin! 

 was on the nest when visitetl by my collector. 

 The jHH'uliar thing in n>gard to oggsof this clutch 

 is that they an^ i\uite heavily market! with light 

 bmwn spots and some lilac shell markings. The 

 larger is 0.8Jtx2.-Ut, and shapeil like the egg of 

 (NiniririMi. Xo. 19, pg. 11. of Bn>wer"s Oologj-. 

 The smaller is like Ked-tailed Hawk. Xo. IT, pg. 

 11. of san\e work, and ix>loring,ind place of mark- 

 ings similar to that egg, the gniund being white, 

 however; size of this egg ".1.81x0.34. and markings 

 on fiiiiillfr (»ii. Xo. 1 has tho markings heaviest 

 on the largiT end, when' they become continent, 

 c>>ncoaling the gnnmd o>lor, sjwts growing fewer 

 and mon" scattenxl towani the smaller and mon' 

 l>ointetl end of the egg. A year or two ago I had 

 another egg from this s.Mne nest {\\\c binls Laying 

 but one) which w,->s white and without even any 

 lilac shell si>ots. It was badly bniken, having 

 l>een sent to me unblown, so that I did not 

 mcisun^ it- The inside of the shell was a bright 

 green. I have another egg of .same sjiecies 

 taken in Wyoming in 1871, which is ninndor in 

 shape and is ixivonxl with shell spots of lilac and 

 very light bmwn. which I supix^scil wen* dirt, 

 until I found 1 could not remove them with a 

 brush .lud soap aud water. This egg was iu a 



