Megalloway River.
1900.
Sept. 5
  Clear & warm with strong S.W. wind.
  At noon, the Stones, George Farnsworth and I started
on a trip up the Megalloway with Jim as guide taking
the large boat & the two small sailing canoes. In one of
the latter I sailed the greater part of the way to the 
lower steamer landing at Wentworth's Location. Saw a few 
Kingfishers, a solitary Whistler, two Eagles and a few small
birds among which were a number of Blue Jays.
Trip up the
Megalloway to
Fred Flint's
Whistlers &
Eagles
  As we were waiting for the team which had been engaged
to take us to Fred Flint's where we were to spend the
night a Bronzed Grackle flew past us up the river and
we had driven scarce half-a-mile along the road towards
Flint's when we started an enormous flock of these birds
from a grain stubble. They flew into a large topped leafy 
maple which they completely covered as with a black 
pall. A moment later they began returning to the stubble
in detachments scaling down to the ground on set wings
and soon fairly blackening it over a considerable space.
There could scarcely have been less than 300 birds in
the flock & I should be inclined to put the number
even higher. No doubt the Grackles represented the combined 
colonies which breed and were bred about the Lake
last summer. There would be comparatively little food
there now and they get rick pickings on the grain
stubble of the fertile Megalloway farms.
Large flock
of Bronzed 
Grackles.
78