280 PROCEEDINGS OP THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



Mr. Ernest E. T. Seton read a paper entitled " Outlines of 

 Ornithology," in which, after outlining the general anatomy 

 of birds, he gave pretty full descriptions of a number of birds 

 found mainly in the Canadian Northwest. 



Mr. Boyle had observed the American cuckoo hovering 

 about other birds' nests, and asked if it laid its eggs in them ;. 

 referred to the fact telegraphe from Australia to the British 

 Association in Montreal of the discovery that the ornitho- 

 rhynchus lays eggs ; and said that the projection on the bill of 

 the female hornbill seemed intended to prevent her from get- 

 ting out of the nest when imprisoned by the male. 



Mr. McDougall had found near Winnipeg , four different 

 kinds of eggs in one nest ; did not think the prairie lark so 

 musical as the English lark ; and referred to the sandhill 

 crane as difficult to approach and swift in running, with a 

 flavour like the wild turkey, although a different species. 



In reply, Mr. Seton said there were two species of cuckoo 

 in Canada — the black-bill and the yellow-bill— the former 

 being regular in rearing its young like other birds, but the 

 other very irregular ; that the meadow lark has different 

 songs in different seasons ; and that the horny projection on 

 the bill of the female hornbill is in breeding time only. 



• TWENTY-THIRD ORDINARY MEETING. 



The Twenty-Third Ordinary Meeting was held on i8th 

 April, 1885, the President in the Chair. 



The minutes of last meeting were read and confirmed. 

 The following list of donations and exchanges was read : 



1. Transactions, No. 1, .1879-80, of the Ottawa Field Naturalists' Club. 



2. Bulletin of the Philosophical Society of Washington, Vol. 7, 1885. 



3. From the New York State Library, Albany, Library Reports, 65th and 



66th, 1882, 1883 ; Reports of the New York State Museum of Natural 

 History, 28th, 33rd to 37th ; Documents relating to the Colonial His- 

 tory of the, State of New York, Vol. XIV. 



4. The Opportunities of the Medical Profession and their Demands, by W. H. 



Bailey, M.D. 



