128 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
even among the trees, it is seldom or never seen sailing about 
high overhead during daylight. It is also a much shyer bird; 
and, although its highly remarkable far-sounding voice may often 
be heard, it needs great caution to get within a sufficiently short 
distance to see the performer. About the end of August all the 
Whip-poor-Wills seemed to have departed, and I was therefore 
considerably surprised to hear the unmistakable voice of one in 
the woods near Carberry on the evening of September 11th. 
This bird also is very solicitous for its young. Going one evening 
into the woods to fetch home an easel Mr. Seton had left when 
sketching, we were almost mobbed by a pair, which kept on for 
some time, tumbling about among the bushes and settling on the 
charred logs of trees felled by the fire. We must have been very 
close to the nest; but it was too dark to find it, though we felt 
the ground all round. 
Several species of Woodpecker are common in Manitoba, 
notably the Golden-winged, Colaptes auratus, which breeds 
frequently in holes in the trunks of poplar trees in the bluffs. 
The Red-headed Woodpecker, Melanerpes erythrocephalus, 
also breeds, but is much less common. 
The Short-eared Owl, Asio accipitrinus, seemed to be decidedly 
uncommon. On the evening of August 20th, 1883, just as it was 
getting dusk, I fired at one sailing overhead. I thought I had 
missed him, but it was just light enough for us to think we saw 
him alight in an open spot in a neighbouring field, so we decided 
to go and look on the morrow; however, the following day was 
so windy and wet that we did not go till the afternoon of the day 
after, when we were surprised to see the bird rise, apparently 
unhurt. It fell to My. Seton’s gun, and after a careful examination 
we could not find that it had received any previous injury, except 
a slight graze on one wing; yet it had been foolish enough to sit 
moping in one spot for over forty hours with nothing to eat 
except one large dragon-fly and a great brown cricket, as we 
afterwards found by dissection. 
The Marsh Harrier, Circus cyaneus hudsonius, is @ very 
common bird throughout Manitoba, and may often be seen sailing 
over the prairies, the sleughs, or the wheat-fields. One morning 
late in August I remember counting a dozen round one house. 
It must breed there, but Mr. Seton has never discovered a nest. 
Nearly all the individuals I saw were in the brown plumage ; 
