40 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 

 NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



[Vol. XXXIII. 



Mr. Levi Penney of Woodlawn, Ontario, re- 

 ported an unusual abundance of fall ducks in 

 Constant bay on the Ottawa river, and attributes the 

 phenomenon to the epidemic, during the shooting 

 season, of influenza, which in various ways prevented 

 the exodus of city gunners. 



Clyde L. Patch, Ottawa. 



Last fall while rabbit hunting near Ottawa, Mr. 

 Phil. Brady observed, resting about ten feet from 

 the ground in a cedar tree, a Screech Owl which 

 held in its claws an adult Ruffed Grouse. The death 

 of the grouse, the throat of which was torn, cannot 

 with certamty be credited to the owl which may 

 have secured it after it had been killed by another 

 agent ; nevertheless the remarkable fact remains 

 that the owl had sufficient strength to carry the 

 grouse to an elevation of ten feet. 



Clyde L. Patch, Ottawa. 



An Hermaphrodite Lobster. — In the month of 

 November, 1917, whilst engaged in making special 

 observations on the lobster at Bay View, Pictou 

 county, N.S., I found in a fisherman's trap, just 

 after it had been drawn out of the sea, a lobster 

 which was absolutely male on the left side and 

 absolutely female on the right side. The specimen 

 was sent intact to Dr. A. P. Knight, Queen's Uni- 

 versity, Kingston, Ont., with whom I was associated. 

 This find was surely a remarkable one. 



Andrew Halkett. 



Reading Mr. Harlan I. Smith's note in a recent 

 issue of The Ottawa Naturalist, I am reminded 

 of a mishap which befell another bird some years 

 ago. While passing one of the fine spruces on the 

 grounds of the Ontario Agricultural College, 

 Guelph, my attention was arrested by a fluttering 

 of wings among the branches, which I found to 

 come from a robin dangling by the tail from a tuft 

 of twigs. Excited by my closer approach the bird 

 managed to free itself, leaving behind a half-dozen 

 tail feathers, which proved to be firmly glued to 

 their anchorage by means of ordinary tar! Pre- 

 sumably it had come here and perched, perhaps 

 over night, within tail's-length of the unfriendly 

 mesh of branchlets, after having first frequented 

 some newly-tarred surface in which the tips of the 

 feathers had become daubed. 



Herbert Groh, Preston, Ont. 



of the most delightful of birds in spite of its bad 

 qualities — Wis-Ka-Tjan or thief the Indians call it; 

 it has well earned its reputation. The lumbermen 

 have corrupted the name into Whiskey Jack and if 

 any of their number misses some whiskey he is ad- 

 vised to go to this bird for information. Not only 

 will this bird steal everything in the way of food 

 about a camp, but we are sorry to say it will also 

 eat the eggs of other birds as well as their young. 

 If it were not for these bad qualities the most ap- 

 propriate name for it would be "The Grey Nun" 

 for with its beautiful grey color — white forehead, 

 white throat and black at back of head and neck, 

 also its delightfully soft eyes and gentle manner, it 

 is typical of the nun. Although not seen in large 

 flocks, half-a-dozen or more may often be met, and 

 when they discover a camp in the woods there is 

 great jubilation, we might say laughter, for their note 

 at this time is much like laughter. 



It might be supposed that a few such birds, some- 

 what less than eleven inches in length, could not 

 make much impression on a hanging deer, and the 

 camper would be surprised to find that one of his 

 best haunches had disappeared in a few hours, this 

 taken piecemeal and most of it hidden for future 

 use. Last September when watching these birds it 

 was noticed that they did not carry all their supplies 

 to one place, but to several places and they were 

 often tucked away between a hanging piece of bark 

 and the trunk of the tree. 



The Whiskey Jack is probably the easiest of any 

 of our birds to tame. When camping not long ago, 

 and while preparing a duck for cooking, in which 

 one of these birds was much interested, it was in- 

 duced to come and peck at the duck. Having 

 once tasted this delicious morsel it forgot all fear, 

 and drawing the duck gradually nearer the writer 

 played hide and seek with it round his body and 

 over his thighes the Whiskey Jack following. From 

 that date this bird became our pet and would freely 

 eat out of our hands. It would also come into our 

 tent and wake us up by walking over us if break- 

 fast was delayed too long. p p PayNE. 



The Canada Jay. — There are few campers in 

 the northern woods of Ontario who have not met 

 with the Canada Jay (Perisoreus canadensis), one 



An Epidemic of Roup in the Crow Roosts of 

 THE Lower Thames River, Kent Co., Ont. — 

 Residents of the lower Thames valley, west of 

 Chatham, Ont., report that large numbers of crows 

 regularly winter in western Kent county and roost 

 in the orchards and groves along the river. Mr. 

 John Johnston says in a letter to the writer that 

 "the date when the crows first wintered here was 

 about 1895. It was a mild winter and a very late 

 fall, and not a great deal of snow. They started 



