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ticus, Virginianus ; Atlanticus and Virginianus 

 alone visit us. This bird is often caught in the steel 

 traps baited for foxes ; the ferocious attitude and 

 indomitable courage he exhibits, when approached by 

 dog or man, is wonderful to behold ; he snaps his 

 powerful beak, rolls his bright eyes, and erects his 

 feathers, the very emblem of concentrated rage. I 

 have not heard of any successful effort to domesticate 

 the great Horned Owl. The Barn Owl, highly valued 

 in some countries as a destroyer of rats and mice, does 

 not inhabit Quebec, except as an "accidental" (1). 



I shall now place before you in a row, according to 

 their size, the Owls that visit us ; you notice the 

 graduation from the Great Cinereous, the size of a 

 large Turkey, to the little Saw-Whet, a sweetly pretty, 

 tiny fellow, not much bigger than a Snow-B anting. 

 What an interesting group of wiseacres they all seem ? 

 Legislators or City Councillors in conclave discussing 

 the imposition of a new tax without raising too great a 

 row ! 



You see here some fair representatives of the web- 

 footed Order of Birds. 



First amongst them, conspicuous for the brilliancy of 

 his plumage, note the Wood or Summer Duck, Anas 

 Spo7isa ; sponsa means a bride, from the gay colours of 

 the individual probably. Here is the Mallard, the Dusky 

 Duck, the Gadwall, the American Widgeon, the Green- 

 winged Teal, the Shoveller, the Canvass-back, the Bed- 

 head, the Scaup, the Buddy, the Bied, the Velvet, the 

 Surf Duck, the Scoter, the Eider, the Golden-eye, the 

 Harlequin, the Long-tailed, the Tufted, the Bed-breasted 

 Merganser, the Hooded Merganser and the Goosander. 

 What a noble looking diver the great Loon seems, with 

 his speckled robe of white and black ? But amongst this 

 splendid array of water-fowl, as I previously said, the 



(1) Mr. Mcllwraith mentions two specimens, captured in 

 Ontario. — Birds of Ontario, 2nd Edition, p. 223. 



