AND OOLOGIST. 
123 
May 15, 1882.] 
the gunners of Ehode Island in 1830. De¬ 
cember 11, 1871,1 saw in a Halifax market 
three fine males in perfect plumage of the 
King Eider, and never since; and here 
may be mentioned, though certainly not 
owing to Arctic currents, that about twelve 
or fifteen years ago a specimen of the Great 
extinct Auk was discovered by the late 
Lord Bishop of Newfoundland and pre¬ 
sented to a gentleman in Halifax. It had 
been dead a long time and was only feathers, 
skin and bones, and was found buried under 
guano at the Funk Islands by the Bishop 
himself. I think this to be the last speci¬ 
men noted. Of the more Southern spe¬ 
cies, which, caught in the circles of the 
Southern cyclones, are whirled down ujmn 
us, may be added a Purple Galinule, shot 
at Hahfax, February, 1870, a few days after 
the cyclone in which the City of Boston 
perished, and Her Majesty’s transport, 
Oronte, survived, on the banks of New¬ 
foundland. The Florida Galinule was also 
taken near Halifax, May 23, 1880, after no 
recorded storm. After a heavy storm, Nov. 
15, 1876, was taken near Halifax, and 
mounted by Mr. Downs, a Frigate Pelican 
or Man-of-War Bird, and again after a fu¬ 
rious gale, September, 1870, which de¬ 
stroyed numbers of shipping and boats, 
was shot far in the interior of the Prov¬ 
ince, a Trojiic Bird, this rosy favorite of a 
tropical sun, with its scarlet beak and long 
red tail, must have found but a poor rest 
among the spruce firs of Nova Scotia, 
To these may be added a female Cardinal 
Grosbeak, shot February, 1871, at Hali¬ 
fax—thermometer 14 degrees below zero— 
very fat and lively, a Blue Grosbeak mounted 
by Mr. Downs, and a small flock of Red¬ 
wing Blackbirds, young males and females, 
on Devil’s Island, near Halifax, in Novem¬ 
ber, after the storm of Oct. 12, 1871. This 
ends my list of personally observed birds, 
but as there has been some communica^ 
tions lately upon the matter, I may add 
that the Wliite-winged Crossbill (61 leii- 
''(ipte.ra) is known to hatch in February, 
the female setting upon her eggs, with the 
the snow all around her, were seen in the 
pine woods of the Dutch village near 
Halifax in February. Chief Justice Sir 
William Ritchie assured me that he had 
seen them in his own woods, near St. John, 
breeding in February, our coldest month. 
— J. Bernard Gilpin, Ilalifax, N'. S. 
The Osprey and its Prey. 
We were sitting ujion the piazza facing 
south, about 3 o’clock in the afternoon. 
The river runs past the house at about 
eighty yards distance. Suddenly I heard 
a wild scream of exultation. I thought it 
was an eagle, but, looking uji, there over 
the river was a fiock of crows who were 
attending a convention in a neighboring 
grove. Passing through this noisy flock I 
saw, rising heavily, a large bird weighed 
down by something which he bore in his 
talons. After rising above the crows, he 
passed directly over our heads, bearing 
away across the rice fields towards the dis¬ 
tant wood. Then I recognized, with a 
shout of satisfaction, a magnificent Osprey, 
bearing in his gras]) a giant cat fish, the 
fisli appearing even longer than the bird, 
and it was a hard tiig for even her power¬ 
ful wings. I could iflainly see the feelers 
projecting from the cat’s jaws, and recog¬ 
nized the shape of his head—while the 
plumage of the beautiful bird was glisten¬ 
ing plainly in the sunlight. It was a 
grand sight! I think the Osprey was a 
female—it being too large, it seemed, for a 
male, for, as you well know, “the mare is 
the best horse,” “ the wife wears the 
breeches,” in this case—the female being 
the more powerful and beautiful bird in 
the raptores generally.— Rev. J. Bachman 
Haskell, White Hall, S. C. 
Gadwell Duck in R. I.—A collector 
brought to us a fine Female Gadwell Duck 
which he shot at New 2 )ort, Sunday, Feb. 26. 
It is the first capture in this State as far as 
I am aware.— Fred. T. Jencks, Bnw., R. I. 
