THE CANADIAN SPORTSMAN AND NATURALIST. 



255 



them, and the valuable specimens wouM be 

 lost to science; besides are not all the objects of 

 nature created for the happiness, pleasure, and 

 benefit of'man. The ewe has as much affection 

 for her lamb as a wild bird for her nest and 

 eggs, but what man considers it cruel to kill 

 the lamb when it is yet barely old enough for 

 food ? About the end of May, 1879, I found 

 two more nests of the golden -winged warbler 

 in a willow swamp. One nest was pulled out 

 of the place where it was built and apparently 

 had been robbed by some depredating animal. 

 The other was to all appearance a completed 

 nest without eggs. A few days later it con- 

 tained one egg. A heavy rain storm occurred 

 on June 6th ; I visited the nest next day and 

 found it half submerged; it contained two 

 eggs which I took. I never saw the parent 

 birds near this nest, but no person can mis- 

 take one after once knowing them ; they are 

 so different from that of any other bird, and 

 the four nests I have seen are all exactly 

 similar in material, construction, and situ- 

 ation. I have seen the young of this species 

 late in June following their parents and 

 clamoring for food, but found no more of 

 their nests until this season, although the bird 

 is quite common here. Between the willow 

 swamp in which the two last described nests 

 were found and the woods is a rough field 

 containing stumps and many briers. A friend 

 named H. P. Attwater and I were hunting 

 in the field one day last May ; I saw a pair of 

 these warblers, and wanting a female specimen, 

 I fired at this one with a charge of dust shot 

 from my five shot 22 calibre repeating gun 

 which I use for small birds. Unaccountably 

 I missed the bird, but while watching to as- 

 certain if it was wounded, \ concluded by its 

 actions that it had a nest near by, b it all 

 search just there proved fruitless. 1 had told 

 Mr. Attwater that the nest would appear like 

 a large ball of yellow leaves at the root of 

 some little bush and quite exposed. We had 

 separated and started towards the willows. 

 After proceeding about sixty yards, my friend 

 called me saying he had found the nest ; it 

 was completed but contained no eggs. We 

 both decided to shoot, at no more golden-wings 

 in that locality until this bird laid her eggs. 

 On June 3rd, the nest contained two eggs of 

 this warbler and two of the cowbird, these last 

 I removed, otherwise' the bird would have 

 laid no more of her own in the nest. June 

 6th, I found her sitting on four eggs ; she 

 allowed me to almost catcli her before leaving 



the nest. How pretty she looked sunk in (he 

 deep nesl ; her bill and tail pointing upward. 

 The yellow of the -crown and wing markings 

 were beautifully blended with its pure blue 

 gray plumge. After leaving the Deal 

 behaved similar to the female of the firel m-i 

 described, except that the male did not appear. 

 None of these nests were built with any 

 attempt at concealment 



Yours faithfully, 

 Hyde Park, Ont. Jonx A. Morden. 



INTERNATIONAL FISHERIES EXHIBI- 

 TION, LONDON 1883. 



Conference on June 21, 1883. 



The Marquis of Exeter in the chair said 

 " the Conference would to-day he invited to 

 give their attention to another branch of the 

 great question of our fisheries, one which, 

 though nearer home, ami perhaps less excit- 

 ing — for it involved no danger to either life or 

 limb — was of great importance, and to many 

 persons formed a most interesting pursuit. 

 He alluded to the attempts which had been 

 made to increase the value of our fisheries ly 

 artificial breeding and by importation; and 

 they were much favoured in having the sub- 

 ject opened with a paper ly Sir .lames (!. 

 Maitland, Bart., who had devoted a great deal 

 of time and energy to fish culture." 



We insert a portion of Sir James G. Mait- 

 land's paper on 



" The Culture of Salmonidae and the 

 Acclimatization of Freshwater Fish. 



The culture ol Salmonidae properly under- 

 stood embraces not only their artificial propa- 

 gation, but also the production of their food ; 

 the regulation of their ascent to their spawning 

 beds and of their descent to their feeding 

 grounds; the manner of their capture and 

 their rapid and economic conveyance to 

 market ; just as much as the culture of corn 

 is understood to mean not merely the sowing, 

 but every step from the preparation ot the seed 

 bed to the marketing ot the harvest. 



The acclimatization of freshwater fish I 

 will consider with special reference to the 

 Salmonidae, and attempt to foreshadow the 

 results ol the importation ot some ot the l>e.-t 

 known foreign species. 



Alter describing the artificial propagation ot 

 Salmonidae, the hatching house ; water, its 

 temperature, and the apparatus employed in 

 hatching salmon. Sir ,1. Gr. Maitland says :— 



•' I will now consider the Hatcherv as a 



