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ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 10-No. 10 



Vireos, also a Carolina Rail tluit had killed itself 

 the night before. About 1 o'clock the birds be- 

 gan to come thick and fast. The air seemed to 

 be tilled with small birds, flitting about catching 

 insects, tlieir bright plumage flashing in the light 

 like the rapid passing of lighted candles, and pre- 

 senting a strange appearance to me as I stood on 

 the lower balcony looking out upon the gloomy, 

 ever rolling ocean. These birds were the above 

 named Vireos, Blue Yellow-backed and maU 

 Hooded and Prothonotary Warblers, As to sex, 

 the Vireos were about evenly divided, but two 

 iimkH were seen of Blue Yellow-backs while not 

 a single female of the other two Warblers was 

 seen. From 1 o'clock till morning I took from 

 the glass or upper balcony 16 Warblers, 1 Black- 

 and-white Creeper, Vireos, 2 Little Black and 

 4 Carolina Rails, 1 Purple Martin, 1 Least Bit- 

 tern ; also 1 Carolina Grebe from the ground be- 

 low where it was lying dead. I also saw a Clap- 

 per Rail, Meadow Lark, Little White Egret and 

 Great Blue Heron, but they did not alight within 

 my reach. The morning of the 34th, the keeper's 

 son brought to me five Blue-winged Teal and one 

 Red-eyed Vireo that had killed themselves the 

 previous night. One of the ducks struck with 

 such force as to shiver a pane of glass one fourth 

 of an inch thick. The night of the 26th again 

 being favorable I went to the light house and 

 captured a number of birds, but did not get any- 

 thing different from the first niglit, excepting one 

 Summer Red-bird. 



The light keeper iufurnied me that one stormy 

 night four years ago his assistant captured four 

 young Flamingoes alive and sold them to an 

 army officer stationed near by. 



While at this same village I noted the follow- 

 ing arrivals: 

 March 23, Ruby-throated Hummer. 

 " 23, Summer Red-bird, ' . 

 " 26, Kingbird. 



28, Great Crested Flycatcher. 



19, Hooded Warbler. 



21, Prothonotary Warbler. 

 .\pril 3, Indigo Bunting. 

 Chimney Swift. 

 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. 



D.wiEs' Ego Check List. — We are inftJinied 

 that a new and revised edition of this useful 

 Handbook is in active preparation. It is to be il- 

 lustrated by Dr. T. Jasper, and we are promised 

 that it will be "complete, .giving accurate Uescrip- 

 tions of the nest and eggs of all North American 

 birds known to breed." It may be looked for 

 before the end of October. 



The Red-breasted Merganser. 



BY P. (J. KEEOAK, LL. D. 



{3ardwicke^8 Science-Gossip.) 



About the period of tlie Autumnal equinox, at the time 

 when the winds, let loose from their Summer-caves, sweep 

 with wild and fitful fury over land and sea, then away 

 among the quiet recesses of some sheltered bay there may 

 frequently be discerned a most beauteous sea-bird. Arrayed 

 in an apparel of the most gaudy and varied hues, with neck 

 and head and movement correspondingly beautiful and 

 graceful, the appearance and deportment of this bird may 

 challenge universal admiration. His accomplishments, too, 

 are by no means to be despised. His sight is of the 

 sharpest, most far-reaching description, his vigilance is in- 

 defatigable, and let but pressing danger be apprehended, 

 and lo ! he dives beneath the water with marvelous promp- 

 titude and dexterity. Where is the sea-fowler that can 

 overmatch the astuteness and agility of this beautiful bird? 

 The gun is presented, and well and truly pointed ; the trig- 

 ger is pulled, but ere the comparatively sluggish shot can 

 reach its mark, the creature has vanished— disappeared, as 

 if by magic, to nestle in the chambers of the deep, com- 

 j)letely out of sight and in security. 



During the dry and parching Summer season, the Red- 

 breasted Merganser (for that is the name of this beauteous 

 sea-bird) sojourns for the most part amid the desolate soli- 

 tudes of the Arctic regions. The cares and anxieties at- 

 tendant upon the breeding duties harass him then ; but let 

 no one suppose that, at this time, his lot is unhapjiy and 

 difficult to bear. Let no one think that there he encounters 

 no warmth or geniality of climate, no green vegetation, no 

 sunlit skies or gleaming sea. We know that there is a 

 broad space around the pole— a "thrilling region of thick 

 ribbed ice" where, during certam months in Summer, the 

 sun perpetually shines, his light never fades, never gives 

 way to night, though sometimes it is seriously intercepted 

 by fog, which, however, chiefly occurs seaward ; he careers 

 all day and night in the heavens, and thereby concentrates 

 such an intensity of heat upon certain sheltered portions of 

 the land, that the temperature thereof frequently surpasses 

 that of the tropics. Captain Scoresby during the course of 

 his survey of the eastern coast of Greenland, having landed 

 one day on that desolate shore, found the temperature of a 

 certain spot amongst the rocks to be T0°, and he describes 

 the effects thereof as being particularly relaxing. A lavish 

 and widespread vegetation too, decorates these northern 

 shores from June till about September, and furnishes ample 

 opportunity for the prosecution of breeding undertakings 

 on the part of seabirds. In order, however, to illustrate the 

 fact, that birds can nidify at a comparatively low tempera- 

 ture, we may mention, that, on the 21st of June, 1S53, an 

 Ivory Gull {Lams cbtirncus) was found sitting upon its eggs 

 in a small island to the north of Melville Sound (lat. 76°), 

 when the thermometer indicated only 35° of heat. 



As soon as the breeding duties of our bird have termi- 

 ted, and the new-fledged brood can provide for themselves, 

 and when the terrible rigors of the Arctic Winter— the sleet 

 charged blasts, the blighting fogs, the destruction of vege- 

 tation, the soul-depressing silence and frigidity of all things 

 —commence to be experienced, then he abandons his Sum- 

 mer seat, and traveling southwards, settles in more genial 

 latitudes. With strong, rapid unflagging flight, he poises in 

 the air over the dreary shores of Greenland, Newfoundland, 

 or Hudson's Bay, and bidding them farewell, advances 

 briskly for days and days till he lanas securely in Shetland, 

 in Orkney, in Sutherland, or the Hebrides, &c., and there, in 

 conjunction with his '*co-mates and brothers in exile,'' 

 forthwith commences his Winter campaign of diving, fish- 

 ing, glutting, &c. 



