August, 1881.] 
AND OOLOGLST. 
43 
iforin. These measure 1.35 by 1.09 inches 
for the largest, to 1.17 by .97 inches for 
the smallest. The average size in a series 
of over 250 specimens in my collection is 
1.24 by 1.03 inches. 
The young, when first hatched, are 
covered with light, greyish down, grow 
very rapidly, and the amount of food re¬ 
quired by a family of ten Owlets, in the 
shape of mice, gophers, etc., must be very 
great, and as this consists, as far as my ob¬ 
servations go, out of absolutely nothing 
else but noxious animals. I repeat 
again that this bird deserves the fullest 
protection as one of the most beneficial 
species in the grain producing districts of 
the great West. 
William MacGillivray. 
On the fly-leaf of a copy of MacGilli- 
vray’s British Birds, imported from Edin¬ 
burgh, we find the following list of his 
writings, written by the Scotch owner of 
the book ; 
“Prof. MacGillivray was born in old 
Aberdeen, was a scholar of Mr. Ewan 
McLacklan. took the degree of A. M. at 
King’s College, went to Edinburgh about 
1823, was appointed keeper of the Museum 
of the College of Surgeons in 1831, and 
while there, wrote and published the first 
three volumes of his “British Birds,” \vas 
appointed professor of Natural History 
and lecturer on Botany in Marischal Col¬ 
lege Aberdeen in 1801, was made L. L. D 
in 1844, by Kings College. He died in 
Aberdeen on the 5th of September, 1852. 
aged 56 years. His separate publications 
amounted to about twenty volumes; be¬ 
sides these, he contributed six Papers to 
the transactions of the Wernerian Society^ 
twelve papers to the Edinburgh Philosophi¬ 
cal Journal, nine papers to the Edinburgh 
Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, three pa¬ 
pers to the Prize Essays and Transactions 
of the Highland Society, two papers to the 
Edinburgh Journal of Natural and Geogra¬ 
phical Science. He sent many papers to 
the Edinburgh Literary Gazette and the 
Edinburgh Journal of Natural History. 
He left, ready for publication, a history of 
the vertebrated animals inhabiting the 
counties of Forfar, Kincardine, Aberdeen, 
Banff, Elym and Nairn, with the adjoining 
parts of Inverness and Perth, also the Nat¬ 
ural History of Balmoral, from notes made 
during an excursion in the autumn of 
1850. This last book exjianded into the 
Natural History of Deeside, was purchased 
by Prince Albert and j^rinted j^rivately (but 
considerable alterations were made by the 
editor on Prof. MacGillivray’s manuscript). 
General Notes. 
American Redstart {iSetojiJiaga ruti- 
ciVfo).—W.Otto Emerson, Ilayicards, Cal., 
writes that on June 20th he shot a Red¬ 
start in some wold blackberries, on the bor¬ 
der of a creek running through the or¬ 
chard. There was no difference in plum¬ 
age between it and those taken in the East. 
Mr. Emerson was informed by Dr. Cooper 
that it was the first specimen, to his know¬ 
ledge, taken in California. 
Large Sets of Eggs. —W. W. Wor¬ 
thington reports : Bobolink, six eggs ; 
Wilson’s Tern, four; Osjirey, or Fish 
Hawk, four; Crow Blackbird, six; Night 
Heron, six; Black-capped Chickadee, eight; 
Downy Woodpecker, seven. 
Sparrow-hawk’s Eggs. —On the morn¬ 
ing of April 2, 1881, while out collecting, 
I discovered the nest of a Yellow-Billed 
Magpie {Pica nuttalU), and on climbing to 
it was surprised to find instead of Mag¬ 
pie’s eggs, two freshly laid Sparrow-hawks’ 
eggs. There was no doubt about the 
identity, as the old birds circled about my 
head while I was robbing the nest. 
Albino’s. —During a recent trip to Bos¬ 
ton, we visited the Taxidermist Establish¬ 
ment of Chas. T. Goodale, 93 Sudbury street, 
where we saw a beautiful Albino Duck, but 
of what species was not certain. Charley 
was inclined to think it a Mallard, while 
others were equally sure it was a Black 
Duck. It was a male and pure white. 
There was also a pure Albino Swallow, be¬ 
longing to a customer, who is desirous of 
selling the sjiecimen. 
