156 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



[Vol. XXXIV. 



William Dutcher' revised the List of extant speci- 

 mens of this extinct species m the collections and 

 museums cf the world. His totals were Canada 2; 

 United States 25; Europe II ; amounting to 38 in 

 all. 



Subsequently A. B. Meyer- recorded a specimen 

 in the Dresden Museum, Saxony, and Dr. Witmer 

 Stone recorded one from an old collection which 

 brings the list of total known specimens to 40, dis- 

 tributed as follows: Canada 2; United States 26; 

 Europe 12. 



It may net be generally known that two of the 28 

 Nor^h American specimens a male and a female 

 were reported by Dutcher on the authority of 

 Thomas I. Egan and Andrew Downs as being in 

 the collection of Dalhousie College at Halifax, 

 Nova Scotia. 



In April, 1919, I had the pleasure of visiting 

 Dalhousie College and through the courtesy cf Pro- 

 fessor Moore was allowed to examine these speci- 

 mens, both cf which are mounted and carefully pre- 

 served under glass. 



One IS a male Labrador Duck (Camptorh^chus 

 labradorius) in full plumage and the other is an 



1. The Auk. Vol. VIII. 1891. p. 201. 



2. Ibid. Vol. IX. 18!t2, p. 389. 

 ?.. Ibid. Vol. X. 189:;. p. U?,. 



American Scoter (Oidemia americana) in the 

 plumage of the female. 



At the time, I neglected to notice the speculum 

 of the bird in question, but Mr. R. W. Tufts, of 

 Wolfville, Nova Scotia, has since examined the 

 specimens to make sure of this point, and he reports 

 that the supposed female Labrador Duck is so 

 mounted that the characteristic speculum of that 

 species would not be shown if it were present, but 

 clcse examination of this specimen shows the ab- 

 sence of the special wing marking of the Labrador 

 Duck. 



Aside from this, the bill of the supposed female 

 Labrador Duck shows it to be an American Scoter. 

 To emphasize this point a sketch showing the upper 

 aspect of the beaks of these two birds was drawn 

 to scale and a comparative sketch showing the bill 

 of a female Labrador Duck has been kindly pre- 

 pared for me by Louis Agassiz Fuertes. These are 

 shown in the figure. 



It is stated with much regret that only one speci- 

 men of the Labrador Duck is known to exist in 

 Canada today, and not two as has been supposed. 



Note. — Fleming saw one in Montreal some years 

 ago, which was net the specimen purchased by 

 Dutcher, but its present condition, if still in exis- 

 tence is unknown. 



NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



The pkothonotary warbler at london. On 

 May 30, 1920, at 5.25 a.m., my attention was at- 

 tracted by the notes of a Swamp Sparrow which 

 was singing in a large elm tree. For the reason 

 that Swamp Sparrows do not go up into large elms 

 to sing, I set about locating this one to make sure 

 cf the identificaticn, but before I could locate him 

 jn the tree, he flew Into some willows cnly ten or 

 fifteen yards away, and again started singing. I 

 saw at once that he was no Swamp, but a warbler, 

 and the glass showed pure yellow beneath, and 

 pure yellow on top of the head, coupled with a tail 

 thai appeared very short and a bill larger in pro- 

 portion than I remember on any other warbler. A 

 Prothonotary, without the shadow of a doubt! 

 Further study of his song indicated that while a 

 Swamp Sparrow sings from four to six notes per 

 second, the warbler was much more deliberate and 

 used two seconds for his song which was invariably 

 of six notes on the same pitch, and almost identical 

 with the Swamp in tone. This is my first Protho- 

 notary, and the second one this century in Ontario, 



the other being a specimen taken at Pelee by Tav- 

 erner about 1915. Macoun's Catalogue quotes one 

 specimen taken at Hamilton, and sight records, in- 

 definite at that, from Toronto (Fleming) and N.B. 

 (Chamberlain). Apparently there are two Cana- 

 dian specimens in existence. 



An eager party hunted my bird that Sunday 

 afternoon, and I was after him with a gun on Mon- 

 day, but when he left me, as he did in a few min- 

 utes, he flew east beyond hearing, and has not been 

 heard from since. — W. E. SaundeRS. 



Epicurean taste in swallows. — Near the 

 village of Shazy, New York, lies Hearts Delight 

 Farm, the property of W. H. Miner, who is not 

 only a farmer at heart and in fact, but a lover of 

 nature and of all things elevating and good. 



Given such a man and a farm of 12,000 acres, 

 with sufficient desire and opportunity for improve- 

 ment along aesthetic as well as economic grounds, 

 the ultimate achievement can hardly be forecasted. 



At Hearts Delight, achievement is magnificent, 

 but one phase only is to be noted here. 



