154 



THE CANADIAN SPORTSMAN AND NATURALIST. 



and what is'singular those young are larger in 

 their, dimensions than the adults. I have 

 known them six inches longer than old male 

 adults. An immature bird shot near Halifax, 

 in January, 1855, measured nearly eighteen 

 feet wing spread, with tail of sixteen inches. 

 He was shot rising from the carcase of a dead 

 horse upon which he had gorged himself. 

 These dimensions exceed the dimensions of 

 the supposed Washington eagle. In studying 

 many specimens, both adults and young, as 

 regards scutillation of tarsus, I found them to 

 vary so much, not only among individuals 

 but in the individual itself, in number, as to 

 be of no use as a typical mark. Audubon 

 makes it a defferential mark in the Washing- 

 ton eagle. An eagle about two weeks old, 

 now in Halifax Museum, has twelve on tarsus 

 and twenty on middle toe. The legs of an 

 adult, shot at Digby, 1880, and mounted as 

 candlesticks, has none upon tarsus. One 

 must conclude that they are shed and renewed. 

 In all my examinations of grey or splotched 

 white and brown specimens, I have never 

 seen any but what were the young of the bald. 

 In the list of rapacious birds I have presented 

 to the Institute as inhabiting Nova Scotia, 

 identified by myself or friends, we find that 

 with the exception of the Screech owl (S. asio), 

 we have all the New England species of owls 

 as visitants or residents, and this as a rather 

 remarkable exception, as being abundant in 

 New England and Newfoundland, and migra- 

 tory. Owls are a peculiarly forest family, and 

 our still remaining pine spruce forests, our 

 barrens and lake country, give them shelter 

 and food. The Great Horned owl, (B. Virgini- 

 anus) the Barred owl (S. nebulosum). the Long 

 and Short-eared owls (0. vulgaris and B. palus- 

 tris), and the Saw-whet (iV". Acadica) are resi- 

 dent, breeding with us, their nests and young 

 having been taken, or they themselves having 

 been seen during all periods of the year. The 

 more arctic species are our winter visitants, 

 breeding and nesting to the far north. The 

 Great Grey owl (fif. laponicum) is a very 

 rare visitant. The Snow owl (Nyctea nivea, 

 and the Hawk owl S. ulula) appear during 

 some winters, almost in flocks, a thing 

 unusual for birds of prey, and showing great 

 scarcity of food. The Saw-whet (N. Acadica) 

 is seen approaching the clearings during 

 winter, also in ilocks, whilst Tengmalm's owl 

 (N.^fengmalmi) is very rare. One sees them 

 scarcely ever during the day time in our 

 solitary forests either winter or summer. 



During the night we hear them in our summer 

 or fall camp. The fierce feline cry of the 

 Great Horned, or the broader sounding hoots 

 of the Barred, as well as the stridulous 

 squeaks of the Saw-whet. Unless the hunter 

 hides his grouse or hares he may have shot, 

 cunningly beneath the snow, when he returns 

 for them he will find that an unseen but watch- 

 ful prowler has stripped off feathers or fur, 

 torn and devoured them. This feeling of 

 being watched by the unseen is one of the 

 charms of our alpine forests. If you take 

 your back track in early morning after com- 

 ing to camp late in the evening, you will find 

 you have been stealthily followed for many a 

 mile by the tracks of the lynx or wild cat. 

 During the night the foxes and the bears, nay 

 even the moo^e, is warily reconnoitering the 

 intruders, and the owls coming to the camp 

 fire, all prowlers in the dark for what they 

 may pick up. Of the diurnal Rapacidre,we 

 find our Province has the usual New England 

 species, yet there are a few noteworthy excep- 

 tions. I have never seen the Broad-winged or 

 Pennsylvania buzzard here (B. Pennsyloa- 

 nicus), nor the common English buzzard of 

 Richardson (B. vulgaris), or the Short-winged 

 buzzard (B. butoides). The kites also I have 

 never seen. If they migrate north of us, as it 

 seems they do, they go inland and not along 

 the sea coast. Neither are they winter visitants. 

 A stray Red-tail hawk (B. borealis) is seen 

 during winter. But the Goshawk (A. atricap- 

 iUus) may be called a persistent winter visi- 

 ter. Specimens of him are brought to Halifax 

 frequently at that time. He and his mate, all 

 winter long, frequents the scrubby pines over- 

 looking the Bayof Fundy from the North moun- 

 tain, and the moose hunters have seen them 

 feeding among the white snow upon the grouse 

 they struck in the forest. Though this 

 family do naturally resolve themselves into* 

 harriers, buzzards, hawks, and falcons, some 

 pursuing live game, others pouncing upon it, 

 others picking it from the ground, and taking 

 lizards, frogs, and even insects, yet with the 

 exception of the timid fish-hawk, the only one 

 who takes his live meat, they all will descend 

 to dead meat and carrion. The imperial 

 eagles being the nearest in this to the vultures 

 who never take their game alive. I have 

 never heard of the bald-heads taking their fish 

 alive, whilst the fish-hawk, if he drops his fish 

 will never seek to reclaim it, seemingly having 

 no instinct to catch fish except from the water. 

 To him alone is due, if it is an honour, never 



