NATURE AND NATURALISTS AT BOOKHAM. 
3 1 
gently, adding to the lonely and desolate nature of the forest. I 
noticed many woodpecker’s burrows in the summits of the bare 
and whitening trunks that met the eye on every side, but I saw 
very few birds of any kind until I came to a low swampy firwood, 
in the midst of which was a shallow pond where the frogs were 
croaking dismally. Here a large barred owl ( Syrnium nebulosum ) 
flew close past me with its peculiarly light and noiseless flight, 
and settled on a dead tree a short distance behind. The habit 
of flying in the daytime in this species is well known ; it was 
shortly after noon when I saw the present individual and snow 
was falling rather fast at the time. I judged it to be a male, the 
female being considerably larger in size, and in fact almost 
rivalling the great horned, or American eagle owl ( Bubo vir- 
ginianus). 
Continuing on my way I disturbed an American pine grosbeak 
( P . enucleator canadensis N from the ground at the foot of a fir tree ; 
this is a very handsome scarlet-tinted bird and is by no means 
unknown in the province at certain seasons, although breeding 
further north. Pushing on again the great foggy expanse of 
Bedford Basin soon came into view below me, and before 
long I reached the road which winds round by the water’s edge 
and started homeward well satisfied with my day’s tramp in a 
Canadian forest. 
NATURE.& NATURALISTS AT BOOKHAM. 
An Account of a Whit-Monday Ramble, 
(Continued from page i8f 
We came unexpectedly on a fine pond on emerging from the 
wooded district, rendered specially beautiful by the numerous 
plants of Ranunculus aquatilis, with their conspicuous white 
flowers, round its margins, while further out were the broad, 
parallel-veined leaves of the floating pondweed ( Polamogeton ). 
About the banks also grew the brooklime ( Veronica beccabunga ) 
bearing small light-blue flowers at the axils of the leaves. 
Our conductor, who was one of the “pond men,”—as another 
member termed them—began operations by dipping a gravy 
strainer, attached to a stick, in the water. This useful instrument 
he had one day appropriated from the kitchen, in order to test 
its efficacy for such purposes, and having found it suited admirably 
and the generous “ household gods” having refused to reclaim it 
for their own uses, it had now become a regular part of the col¬ 
lecting outfit, Am ong the treasures obtained were several of the 
