May, 1881.] 
Am OOLOGIST 
23 
Importing Game Birds. —The Daily Ore¬ 
gonian, contains the following extract from 
the Hon. O. N. Denny, U. S. Consul Gen¬ 
eral at Shanghai, China, to Mr. A. H. Mor¬ 
gan, of Portland, Oregon: “I mentioned 
in my last that it was my intention to try 
and stock our state with some of the finest 
varieties of game pheasants found in 
China, and to this end I have been collect 
ing them for some months past. I am 
sending by the ship Otago, of Port Town¬ 
send, care of Captain Eoyal, about sixty 
Mongolian pheasants, to he turned loose in 
various sections of the state. I also send 
eleven Mongolian sand grouse. These 
birds have very peculiar shaped feet, re¬ 
sembling somewhat those of a mole. I 
also send seven Chefoo partridges. I am 
collecting other varieties which I will send 
in due time, some of them are beautiful 
birds.” 
Females Preponderating. —Capt. Charles 
Bendire, stationed at Fort Walla Walla, 
Washington Territory, writes that he has 
been quite successful in taking skins the 
past winter, and notes that among the 
Raptores, the females greatly preponder¬ 
ate. In seven specimens of the Prairie Fal¬ 
con, Hierofalco mexicanns polyagrua. 
There are only two males. In eight speci¬ 
mens of Black Merlin, ^salon Colunv- 
bnrious suckleyi, there was but a single 
male. In four specimens of the American 
Rough legged Hawk, Archibuteo lagopus 
sancti Johannis there were no males. The 
owls were more evenly divided as to 
sex. 
Oological Notes from St. John. 
White Winged Crossbill —I am on the 
search for the nest and eggs of the white 
winged Crossbill, I know they breed here. 
I think it was in the third week of Janua¬ 
ry, 1875, I was out moose hunting and 
started a big buck, and in the chase I 
found him making a circle, and cut through 
a bunch of trees to gain upon him. On 
my way through the thick wood, I stopped 
to adjust a strap on my snowshoes I found 
myself face to face with a white winged 
crossbill on her nest, the high bank of 
snow under me bringing my head about 
level with the nest. As I approached 
closer to examine it she flew to a branch 
close by, where I was enabled to carefully 
examine and identify her. The nest was 
placed in the fork of one of the main limbs 
of the tree and was composed externally of 
the long gray moss which grew in large 
patches on most of the trees in this vicini¬ 
ty, and so much resembled these patches 
of moss as to be diffi cult of detection. In 
the inside was a lining of softer moss, and 
between the lining and the exterior were 
small twigs interlaced. In the nest were 
three eggs of a bluish-white ground color 
having dashes of red upon the large end. 
But like the exquisite in Richelieu who be¬ 
ing filled with fate had no time to discuss 
ambition, so I, filled with the excitement 
of the chase and my ears tingling with the 
magnetic chorus of the dogs, had no time 
for bird’s eggs and hurried on, thereby 
losing what now, no moose or dog could 
tempt me fron^ securing. 
So far as I know there is only one of 
our citizens who has any claim to be an 
Oologist; Mr. Jas. W. Banks. He has 
collected and carefully identified some sev¬ 
enty varieties of eggs, some of them of 
very rare species. As he is a close observ¬ 
er and enthusiastic, he will no doubt add 
largely to his collection during the coming 
season. 
Solitary Sandpiper. —Mr. Banks foimd 
a nest of the Solitary Sandpiper on July 
3d, 1880. It was on the shore of a lake on 
the suburbs of the city, about 200 yards 
from the edge of the lake on a dry spot in 
the midst of a rather swampy patch of 
meadow. There was no attempt at nest 
building, the eggs being laid in a mere 
indentation in the ground, apparently 
scratched out by the parents and without 
lining of any kind. There was 3 eggs in 
the nest and in boring one it was found to 
contain a well developed embryo. There 
were no broken shells near the nest, nor 
