23 



a pellet as large as an ordinary rifle-bullet; and in sum- 

 mer, when the young birds are on the wing, this pellet 

 is often transferred from old to young in mid-air. 



In some jespccts the swallow has several traits distinct 

 from most migratory birds. In the ease of almost all 

 the soft-billed wood-birds, which are also summer mi- 

 grants, the males arrive and attain to their full song from 

 a week to a fortnight before the arrival of their consorts; 

 but the swallows invariably come in pairs. Their com- 

 ing has been marked at various stations along the Medi- 

 terranean, and on through Northern into Central and 

 Southern Africa. It is here among the palm-groves that 

 our visitants take their annual rest, molt, and return a- 

 gain perfect plumage. 



(To be continued) 



■ — The Mongolian Pheasant of the Territories. — 

 (New York Sun) 



Four years ago Dr. Miner, of Seattle, W. T., imported 

 sonu Mongolian pheasants and liberated them on Whit- 

 by's Island, in Paget Sound. He also procured the pass- 

 age by the Legislatur of the Territory of an act prohibiting 

 the shooting of the birds for five years. They have in- 

 creased rapidly, emigrated to the mainland, and the other 

 day one was shot in Oregon and has been stuffed and 



