THE OOLOGIST. 
pHUj a T*iofatiic;il oxcursiou party among the i 
Baiunnas. Xiithiufr could .satistj nic bet- ' 
tor, an<l, havinir obtaiiiod tho consent of 
my friiardian. I ^^tartcd. Our party con- 
HiHted ot'ci^lit persons, two of Avhich Mere 
proffpHorfi ol' Kouie botanical school, two of 
the othvirs were sfud(.?nts of the same st-ieuce 
and under tlie tutorship of the professors. 
There was a H[)ortHman, a reporter to a 
botanical periodienl, a surveyor to the bot- 
ani.its, and myself. The botanists were 
in search of iulditional information with , 
which U) comph^te a book they were com- 
piiin;:?. I was delighted with the idea of 
the grand collections 1 should make among 
the JJalnvmas ; a colleetif>n, 1 was confident 
would transcend all others in number and ; 
r! I rity o f spe<'i men s . I 
The Hrst ishuid we visited is called Ncav 
Providence, on whieii T made a rare col- 
lection of both skins and eggs. 
The mortiiug after we arrived :it the is- 
land, the sport?;5man, named G eorge ]\IcPlu'r- i 
son, and myseif started ibr a day's excur- 
sion among the valleys and around tlie i 
hliores 4)f the island, whi(di is not very large. ! 
I noted soine beautiful flowering plants. ' 
whicii I have no doubt our more seientiHc 
friijuds took advantage of. But al'ter we 
had traveled about half through a b'ttle 
gulch, the sjmrtsman said lie saw some- 
thing, and agreeing to meet me on the coast 
i!i a direct Hue toward whicli wo were trav- 
eling, I went on. At the end of the gulch, 
I saw an open spuee, and crawled on my 
haiuls and knees stealthily, lest I nught 
frigliten some game tliat probably would be 
found there. As soon as 1 gained a level 
with the open S])ace, I saw in its ctMitcr a 
slug^isli pond ol' water of some extent, 
iriiiged on the opposite side witli tall reeds 
and a few (cypress trees. I rather incau- 
tiously arose a. little too higii, aufl did not 
see the b(?auiiful hjug-iegged snowy wliite 
bird that rose at a distance of less tlian five 
rods irom me imtil lie was espied sailing 
through the cypress trees just outof ]-aage. 
As H natural thing this gave me considera- 
ble disappointment; ihe bird was familiar 
to me, and 1 w as anxious to obtiiin it. The 
bird Avas a Snowy Heron, the most beauti- 
ful of living birds in my estimation. After 
the Heron had flown away, I scanned the 
edge of the pond as ffir as itiy vision ex- 
tended, but saw nothing of imporlauee. 
The presence of a huge snake however was 
of some importance, so I moved ou. The 
report of jMr. McPherson's gun reached my 
ears twice, and as he \vas (considered a good 
shot, and never aimed at anything that he 
thought useless, niy expeetion was that he 
had secured something rare. There was 
about two miles between there and the 
coast, and ou my arrival there i learned 
that McPherson had been waitingsome time* 
TO IIK CONTIXUKD. 
JJlUDS' J](tGS A^'l) ]\[lvSTS. 
SrE(;iES described in this issue : — 
o ( ) 1 . R< > s K A T n S I' o o X 1 n L T. , 
o 5 1 . Ks« ^1 1: iM A V X C i: iii.i: w , 
iJoO. Ill DsoXIAX 
;)41). Lox(i-uiLi.Ki) 
■1:87, Gkkat V>uvi: IIkuon'. 
odl. Eosrate SpoonhtlL 
This bird lay.^ fnnn 2 to 5 eggs, similar 
in markings and color to those of 2*Co. 400, 
[which will be described here:vfter.] hilt 
considerably larger. They nest in treea at 
the Usual heiglit; bro^nl in eomniunities, in 
this respect being simihir to the above. 
Esfinimtinx Ottrleuu 
This bird breeds in the far north, on tlif 
slun'cs of the Arctic islands and tin; coasts 
of J^abrador and upper Hudson's Hay, -i 
eggs ure laid. The nest, generally in an 
open plain, is simply a <lepressiou in the 
ground, lined with a few bits of grass or 
dried leaves. Kgr'* -luue, and 
vary greatly in color ; the primary color is 
generally an olive-drab, tending to green, 
gray or brown in different instances. * The 
markings are large, well collected, bold. 
an*l are of a chocolate color, varying in. 
shade I'rom light to gray and almost bhuik. 
