40 Btilletin of the Natural History Society, 
Piping Plover {^JEgialites melodus). — On May 6th Mr. Ellis shot 
two of this species at St. Martins and on May 9th Baron de Tuyll 
secured two at Maces’ Bay. 
Whistling Swan {Cygnus americanus). — The only example of 
this species known to have been observed in this Province was shot 
by George Barnhill, Esq., at Belvidere Lake on April 8th. 
Bedhead Duck {Aethyia americana). — On October 16th three 
were offered for sale in the St. John market and on the 27th of the 
same month two more were to be seen there ; all were said to have 
been taken within 20 miles of St. John. 
Two of the “ shore birds,” Ring-necked Plover (^gialites 
semipalmatus and Least Sandpiper {Actodromas minutilla) were 
observed during the last of May, an unusual occurrence, for though 
both species are exceedingly abundant in the autumn neither had 
been seen previously in the spring. 
Among other interesting occurrences of the year was that of a 
flock of the Ipswich Sparrow [Passerculus princeps), discovered by 
Mr. Alfred Morrissey on Courtenay Bay Flats on April 11th; also 
several Pine Grosbeak {Pinicola emmcleator) that spent the summer 
in the vicinity of Sandy Point and were made the subject of 
special study by Mr. James W. Banks. One pair was discovered at 
work at the foundation of a nest and the female accidentally 
killed. 
Several explorations were made into the adjacent counties of 
Kings and Queens, notably one under the leadership of Mr. 
Harold Gilbert. Among other questions of interest which the 
observations then made have determined is the confirmation of the 
statement made by the writer in the Catalogue of New Brunswick 
Birds, (p. 37,) that many of the species of birds rarely met with in 
the vicinity of the coast of the Bay of Fundy during the breeding 
season are much more abundant at that time beyond the line across 
which the humidity and low temperature so characteristic of this 
coast at that season do not penetrate, said line being drawn some 15 
to 20 miles from the shore of the Bay. 
In an article on the Birds of the Catskill Mountains by Mr. 
Eugene P. Bicknell, published in the Transactions of the 
Linna*an Society of New York, lately issued the author advances 
