THE SCiE^^TIST. 
79 
in*^ that the old ones would return another 
)'ear. Nine little black cubbs of Kails 
left the nest, leaving an egi^ that did not 
hatch, 1 $a\v them as ^tliey left the nest 
the day they hatched and that was the 
last I ever saw of old or young, as I think 
they left that night and have^ never re 
turned. I gave the remaining egg to Mr, 
Purd3", as he consented to ^ave 'it; what 
was our chagrin, however, when we 
learned that they were not Clopper Kails, 
which bird is confined to the ocean 
marshes, but the l\ing or Red-breasted 
Kail. IS'ot a rare bird in some localities, 
but the only one ever known to breed 
here, and we had done well had we pre- 
sei-ved the whole set. 
Solilar}^ specimens of the Turkey Buz-, 
zard ai'c occasionally seen. Soaring high 
up, often appeai'ing as mere specks 
against the deep blue of endless space; 
rarely coming within ritie range, of the 
earth. Not long- ago a lai-ge male Buz- 
zard was killed near Plymouth, and after 
being v/ondered at by the hay-seed native 
who did the killing, he preserved the 
bird in the stomachs of his winter pork. 
Had he but been wise in his day and gen- 
eration he could have disposed of ;the 
Buzzard to some of the taxidermal en- 
thusiasts about Plymouth to far better 
profit to himself, than feeding it to his 
hogs, at the present feather weight price 
of even Buzzard fed swine meat. 
Following our lakes and rivers, the 
Loon or Northern Diver is not uncom- 
monly seen and numerous instances are 
on record of its having bred in Wayne 
and adjacent counties. In 18S6 Mr. 
Davidson presented me with two fine sets 
of Loon's eggs taken by himself, at Grass 
Island, in the Detroit river. Were space 
allowed me, I would detail a description 
of its nesting habits, as Mr. Davidso;i 
described them to me in the letter ac- 
companyed the eggs. He gave the bird 
great credit for cunning and sagacity, 
both in selecting its nesting site, 
eluding observation and diverting the 
finders attention from its nest, finally 
rising from the water and circling with 
the ease of a swallow, high overhead, 
uttering repeatedly, its shrill cry of ap- 
preliension and distress. The nest is 
situated among the rank reeds in shallow 
watei-. Built high and conical, much 
resembling the winter house of the Musk- 
rat, and in fact', tlie Loou often appro- 
priates the deserted rat houses and de- 
posits its accompaniment on the llattened 
top. The eggs, usually two in number, 
are about the size and shape of large 
Eider Duck's eggs, having a dark coflee 
collored groundwork, spotted and splash- 
ed with deeper shades of brown iii^d 
black. 
The Strigidje and Falconidic flourish 
in tliis section. Seven varieties of the 
former occur of which four are breedei's, 
viz: Great-horned, Barred, Little 
Screech and Saw-Whet. Of the latter, 
ten varieties occur, viz: Pigeon Hawk, 
Sparrow Hawk. American Osprey, Marsh 
Hawk. Coopers Hawk, Shark Shinned 
Hawk, American Goshawk, Ked-tailed 
Hawk, Ked-shouldered Hawk and the 
Broad-winged Hawk. All are breedei-s, 
except the Pigeon, the Osprey and the 
American Goshawk, which are on our 
list as doubtful. 
Mr. Davidson took a fine set of six 
eggs of the Saw- whet Owl, together 
with the female bird, at Walled Lake, 
this past season. It is one exceedingly 
rare. 
During the migratory seasons, thous- 
ands of Warbles assemble in the haz( 1 
brush wastes along our small streams, and 
many a morning in early sirring, when 
the first signs of its coming are on tree 
and bush, when the "Soft Maple" in ihe 
city streets and the puss willow in the 
country wd|y-side first begin to put forth 
their buds' alid'leaving home 1 started 
forth in conlpany witii some ''congenial 
spirit'^ wi til' Wasket of cotton and collect- 
ing gun, for a rare day's sport, feeling 
confident of adding new and rare speci- 
