NATURE IN ACADIE. 15 



envelopes of a peculiarly thin, greyish-white kind of 

 wasp-paper ; in the lower part was a small circular 

 opening through which the empty comb could be seen 

 in the interior. Others of these nests that I have seen 

 have been in bushes and saplings, all at moderate 

 heights, and in size usually not much exceeding the 

 one above described, although I have seen one fully 

 ten inches in diameter. 



On October 19 I paid the first of many visits to 

 the veteran naturalist, Andrew Downs, C.M.Z.S., of 

 Halifax, who was then in his 81st year, although still 

 comparatively well both in mind and body. His long 

 and extensive experience and acquaintance with many 

 of the older naturalists — dating back to Audubon in 

 America, and Waterton, Gould, Jardine and other 

 naturalists of the old school in England — imparted an 

 especial interest to our conversation. To his credit 

 be it said that his collection of birds stands almost 

 unrivalled in point of workmanship and mounting. A 

 prominent group, in a case of Corvida?, was a pair of 

 ravens with their nest and eggs, taken near the North- 

 West Arm in the vicinity of Halifax, and in this case 

 also are many medals and awards gained at former 

 exhibitions on both sides of the water. Among other 

 living birds were a fine pair of silver pheasants, the 

 female of which is small and soberly clad and altogether 

 unlike the beautiful male ; also a purple or Martinique 

 gallinule, which I observed could perch and climb 

 among the slender twigs of a tree with considerable 

 facility, and one of our old homely birds, the blackbird. 

 He also showed me an exceptionally fine pair of snowy 

 owls, the female of which I found measured fully 

 twenty-seven inches in length, and was more heavily 

 marked than the male, which was also appreciably 

 smaller. 



Since my return to England the news of the death 

 of this simple-hearted and kindly old naturalist has 

 reached me, and it is with sincere pleasure that I find 

 myself enabled to inscribe these few lines, in default 



