ered a thunder sliower, and. were glad to find shelter under a huge 

 jboulder. We reached the wood at the foot known as "Rothiemurchus- 

 Forest," just as the daylight faded into gloom. We had ten miles to 

 traverse, and losing our path for a while, were glad to pass the night in 

 a barn. And we reached our stopping place in the morning, so weary 

 and tired that for some days after we could hardly walk around. 

 And the object of all this, which some might call wasted energy^ 

 was to try to learn something of the breeding habits of 

 our familiar Canadian " Snow-Bird. " But although on that 

 occasion I learnt and saw other things than those I was in quest of,. 

 I did not fail to learn something of birds too, for we found the ptarmigan 

 or white gi'ouse, breeding at the very summit of the mountain. We 

 watched the golden plover at a lesser altitude. At the foot we found 

 that rare British bird, the greenshank, so similar except in size, to the 

 solitary sandpiper "Tetanus solitai-ius," of this country ; and not only 

 saw the bird, but identified a breeding locality. For though vt^e did not 

 find the nest or young, we found a portion of an egg shell, from which 

 the young had very recently emerged. This bird has a curious habit of 

 alighting on the tops of fir and other small trees after the manner of 

 some of the herons. I must not omit to mention that on this occasion 

 too we came across the very local, crested titmouse, as well as the com- 

 mon crossbill. But I have said sufficient of that particular occasion ; a 

 few years later in another part of the country a holiday ramble was 

 more prolific from an ornithological point of view than that one. I 

 came across what might be aptly termed "the last bi-eeding haunt of 

 the kite." Some of you perhaps know how familiar a bird this once 

 was in Britain, with its sombre reddish plumage, its great stretch of 

 wing, and its majestic soai-ing high in the air. But it is now all but 

 extinct : if England were searched through I don't think a nest could 

 be found ; two or three pairs may remain in Scotland and Wales. On 

 one occasion in the latter days of Summer I saw as many as eleven of 

 these birds circling in the air at ane time. 



But you are more interested iu ornithology in the abstract, or at 

 any rate in Canadian ornithology. Now let me tell you, I think very 

 little interest is taken in this branch of natural history here. I think,, 

 as far as my small experience goes, the girls and boys, and the grown 



