2o6 The Ottawa Naturalist. [February 



species of Ruffed Grouse, or the Great Horned Owls ; typical speci- 

 mens of all the sub-species of these birds can be taken here, in one 

 district, except perhaps, B. Virginianus ardicus. — Allan C. Brooks 

 Vernon, B.C. 



The American Goshawk, Accipiter atricapillus—Th\% beautiful 

 hawk is rare at Ottawa although occasionally seen. When seen flying 

 it looks to be almost white. Mr. W. E. Brooks, now of Mount Forest, 

 Ont., but who has done good ornithological work in India and British 

 Columbia, writes under date Dec. loth, 1897 ; " I got a fine female 

 Accipiter airicapillus last week which measured 24 inches, and a Snowy 

 Owl, Nyctea nyctea, about a week before. Goshawks were much more 

 common at Chilliwack, B.C., than they are here. They used to take 

 our poultry, and sometimes pounced upon mallards I had shot, before 

 I could pick them up ; but the Goshawk could not carry off a mallard- 

 and was easily secured as well as the duck." — J. Fletcher. 



An Albino Sparrow. — An almost white variety oi Passer domesticus, 

 Linn., frequented one of the public squares of Montreal during the 

 year 1897. It was a dirty white, having the feathers which characterise 

 the ordinary male bird, of a dun color. I watched, at the close of the 

 nesting season for additions to the flock with the same markings, but 

 none had the slightest peculiarity. It was tamer than its less conspicu- 

 ous companions. Its haunt is a busy thoroughfare for pedestrians, and 

 it is remarkable that it did not fall a victim to some cariosity-hunter's 

 shot. I have not seen it for some time, and fear such has been its fate, 



A Winter Boarder. — A solitary sea-gull spent all last winter in 

 the fields around Point aux Trembles, Montreal Island. I was never 

 near enough to determine the species. The motor-men of the Montreal 

 Belt Line tried in vain to shoot it. It was too wary for them and lived 

 to join its comrades in the spring.- -Charles Stevenson, Montreal. 



