August, 1881.] 



AiND OOLOGIST. 



43 



iform. These measure 1.35 by 1.09 inches 

 for the largest, to 1.17 by .97 inches for 

 the smallest. The average size in a series 

 of over 21)0 specimens in my collection is 

 1.24 by 1.03 inches. 



The young, when first hatched, are 

 covered with light, greyish down, grow 

 very rapidly, and the amount of food re- 

 quired by a family of ten Owlets, in the 

 shape of mice, gophers, etc., must be very 

 great, and as this consists, as far as my ob- 

 servations go, out of absolutely nothing 

 else but noxious animals. I repeat 

 again that this bird deserves the fullest 

 protection as one of the most beneficial 

 species in the grain producing districts of 

 the great West. 



William MacGillivray. 



On the fly-leaf of a coj^y of MacGilli- 

 vray's British Birds, imported from Edin- 

 burgh, w^e find the following list of his 

 writings, written by the Scotch owner of 

 the book : 



"Prof. MacGillivray was born in old 

 Aberdeen, was a scholar of Mr. Ewan 

 McLacklan took the degree of A. M. at 

 King's College, went to Edinburgh about 

 1823, was appointed keeper of the Museum 

 of the College of Surgeons in 1831, and 

 while there, wrote and published the first 

 three volumes of his "Bi'itish Birds,'" was 

 appointed professor of Natural History 

 and lecturer on Botany in Marischal Col- 

 lege Aberdeen in 1801, was made L. L. D, 

 in 1844, by Kings College. He died in 

 Aberdeen on the 5th of September, 1852, 

 aged 5G years. His separate publications 

 amounted to about twenty volumes ; be- 

 sides these, he contributed six Papers to 

 the transactions of the Wernerian Society? 

 twelve papers to the Edinburgh Philosophi- 

 cal Journal, nine papers to the Edinburgh 

 Quarterly Journal of Agricultitre, three pa- 

 pers to the Prize Essays and Transactions 

 of the Highland Society, two papers to the 

 Edinburgh Jt)urnal of Natural and Geogra- 

 phical Science. He sent many papers to 

 the Edinburgh Literary Gazette and the 



Edinburgh Journal of Natural History. 

 He left, ready for publication, a history of 

 the vertebrated animals inhabiting the 

 counties of Forfar, Kincardine, Aberdeen, 

 Banff, Elym and Nairn, with the adjoining 

 parts of Inverness and Perth, also the Nat- 

 ural History of Balmoral, from notes made 

 during an excursion in the autrnnn of 

 1850. This last book expanded into the 

 Natural History of Deeside, was purchased 

 by Prince Albert and printed privately (but 

 considerable alterations were made by the 

 editor on Prof. MacGillivray's manuscript). 



General Notes. 



American Redstart {Setophaga ruti- 

 eilla).— W .Otto Emerson, JIayicm'ds, Cal., 

 writes that on June 20th he shot a Red- 

 start in some wild blackberries, on the bor- 

 der of a creek running through the or- 

 chard. There was no difference in plum- 

 age between it and those taken in the East. 

 Mr. Emerson was informed by Dr. Cooper 

 that it was the first specimen, to his know- 

 ledge, taken in California. 



Large Sets of Eggs. — W. W. Wor- 

 thington reports : Bobolink, six eggs ; 

 Wilson's Tern, four ; Osprey, or Fish 

 Hawk, four ; Crow Blackbird, six ; Night 

 Heron, six; Black-capped Chickadee, eight; 

 Downy Woodpecker, seven. 



Sparrow- hawk's Eggs. — On the morn- 

 ing of April 2, 1881, while out collecting, 

 I discovered the nest of a Yellow-Billed 

 Magpie {Pica nuttallx)^ and on climbing to 

 it was surprised to find instead of Mag- 

 pie's eggs, two freshly laid Sparrow-hawks' 

 eggs. There was no doubt about the 

 identity, as the old birds circled about my 

 head while I was robbing the nest. 



Albino's. — During a recent trip to Bos- 

 ton, we visited the Taxidermist Establish- 

 ment of Chas. T. Goodale, 93 Sudbury street, 

 where we saw a beautiful Albino Duck, but 

 of what species was not certain. Charley 

 was inclined to think it a Mallard, while 

 othei's were equally sure it w^as a Black 

 Duck. It was a male and pure white. 

 There was also a pure Albino Swallow, be- 

 longing to a customer, who is desirous of 

 selling the specimen. 



