70 



THE OOLOGIST. 



[Does not our correspondent refer to the 

 Lesser instead of the Mealy Red-poll ?] 



— A NOTE on the occurrence of the Black 

 Rail {^PoTzana janiaicensis) appears in 

 the Forest and Stream. Considering the 

 rarity- of this bird and the extremely few 

 taken, this note is of some interest. 



— Since the list of birds was published 

 in the Ornithological Directory, two spe- 

 cies have been added to tlie Birds of Cen- 

 'tral New York. They are, Somaterla spec- 

 tahilis, King Eider, taken on Onondaga 

 Lake ; and iwn^s trldactylus, Kittiwake 

 Gull, taken on Lake Ontario. 



— The London Zoological Garden con- 

 tains among its novelties in natural history, 

 an American Robin, captured at Dover. 

 This is the only instance of the occurrence 

 of our Robin in the wild state in England, 

 which would seem singular, as it has been 

 observed on the continent. It is supposed 

 to have been transpoi'ted thither by western 

 winds. 



— Among the interesting collections of 

 the British Arctic Expedition, are a num- 

 ber of birds taken at the northernmost lim- 

 its of the regions explored. We find the 

 prevailing species to be the Snowy Owl, 

 White Ptarmigan and Snow Bunting. The 

 first mentioned Avere abundant at 82 deg. 

 52 min., the northernmost limit of birds. 



— A correspondent in Iowa, in answer 

 to the article on the American Bittern in 

 a late issue of The Oologist, says : •■' The 

 writer seems to doubt the flocking of the 

 Bittern at nesting time. I have often flush- 

 ed half a dozen in one swamp, and have 

 found their nests within a few hundred yards 

 of each other, and find they breed in the 

 same locality year after year." — c. N. p. 

 ■ <«> ■ 



[from page 67.] 



ed and Blue Grosbeaks, Indigo Bird, La- 

 zuli Finch, Scarlet Tauager, Orioles, most 

 Herons, Bittern, Sandpipers, Plover. June 

 5 ; most Ducks, Warblers, Yellow-breasted 

 Chat, Humming Bird, Oven Bird, second 

 broods of Red-winged Blackbird, Flicker, 

 and Sparrows. June 10 ; Yellow Bird. 



Around the World. — An expedition is 

 on foot for explorations around the world, 

 which has for its objects the several branch- 

 es of natural science. T'his expedition will 

 start from New York, and will proceed 

 south to the Bahamas ; thence to the Am- 

 azon and the Straits of Magellan ; thence 

 westward, touching at many of the Poly- 

 nesian Islands, Australia, New Guinea, etc. 

 Here many hitherto unexplored regions will 

 be thoroughly sectioned by able scientists. 

 From the East Indies, the Expedition will 

 strike for the Mediterannean ; thence to the 

 Holy Land, Egypt, and other eastern coun- 

 tries ; thence to France, England and New 

 York. I'he results of the Expedition will 

 prove of the most valuable character, and 

 will contribute to our present knowledge 

 especially of birds, much that otherwise 

 might remain in obscurity for ages. The 

 Expedition will be gone two years. 



Does the Fish Hawk ever take Dead 

 Fish ? — This subject has been agitated some 

 time in the Forest and /Stream, but there 

 seems yet to prevail much difference of opin- 

 ion on the subject. A correspondent of that 

 paper who signs himself " Roamer," con- 

 tributes an article of some length on the 

 subject, wherein he is rather inclined to cede 

 a point in the affirmative, though the gist 

 of liis argument shows that his experience 

 in the matter would corroborate the state- 

 ments to the contrary. Whether the fact 

 of the hard pressure of the Fish Hawk for 

 food occurred to the writers, we do not 

 know, but there is sufficient evidence al- 

 ready brought before us to confirm the fact 

 that the Fish Hawk certainly does occas- 

 ionally take dead fish. On the 13th of July, 

 1874, while shooting, we happened at a mill 

 pond Avhich had been drawn off" a day or 

 two before, that it might be cleared of the 

 rubbish which had accumulated in its bot- 

 tom. The bed of the pond was strewn with 

 dead fish, mostly of the kind known as the 

 " mud-sucker," which were kept moist by 

 the slime of the pond. While watching the 

 motions of a Sandpiper, a shadow suddenly 



