226 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
and the other, one of the Harriers (Circus Swainsoni), almost 
the colour of a common Gull. I also got a beautiful little 
Hawk, about the size of a Merlin, with blue wings and back 
like a Kestrel, blue and red head and red feet, apparently 
Tinnunculus Sparverius; and a fine Grey Shrike, exactly like our 
English species. I could shoot any number of birds if I liked, 
but only secure specimens when I have time to skin them, 
except in the case of Hawks, which I slay on most occasions 
when opportunity offers. All I have got so far I have skinned, 
though I have to do that part of the collecting when the day’s 
work is over. When at Badger Hill we got up at 5 a.m. every 
morning, made up the fire, and then strolled down to the river 
with the gun and looked at our fishing lines; then back to cook 
what we had caught for breakfast. We got some immense fish at 
times. After breakfast we had a drive over the prairie or a row 
down the river. One day we were driving out, when suddenly we 
were saluted by the well-known ery of the Curlew (bringing back 
recollections of the Tees Mouth and Mostyn tomy mind). There 
they were in couples; one foolishly passed over us, and I fired 
at it from the carriage ; down it came, and then another bit the 
dust. They were very like our English Curlew, but buff-coloured 
on the breast and under the wings, and the same tinge runs all 
over the body. I guess it was the Esquimaux Curlew.* We 
plucked and ate them; but I will get specimens to preserve. 
Prairie Chickens are getting strong on the wing, and in another 
fortnight I shall be after them. The other night I scared a 
Wolf outside my tent, but did not get a shot at it. 
August 5th.—I have been staying at Badger Hill a good deal 
lately, and I have done a little shooting. One day early in 
the month two guns bagged twenty-two Ducks and two Grebes. 
The Ducks are difficult to retrieve, and we lose quite one-half of 
what we shoot in the reeds. I shot two Yellowshanks (TJ'otanus 
flavipes), and could have killed many more, but don’t waste 
cartridges on such small game. On the way out here I got a 
fine Buzzard; its crop was full of grasshoppers and mosquitoes. 
* [As nothing is said as to size, length of bill, wing, or tarsus, it is im- 
possible to identify the species with certainty ; but if “very like our English 
Curlew,” it was most probably Nwmenius longirostris; for Nuwmenius 
hudsonicus would have reminded the shooter of our Whimbrel, while the 
Esquimaux Curlew is so much smaller than either of these that it would have 
at once attracted attention on that account.—Ep. | 
yr 
