The manner of flight of the different species of ducks is usually characteristic to the eye of the careful student. Thus the hooded mergansers fly in a compact flock of about a dozen birds with a directness and velocity that is wonderful. Dr. Hatch says, in his "Birds of Minnesota:" "Once in January, 1874, when the mercury had descended to 40 below zero, while a north wind was blowing terrifically, I saw a flock of six of this species flying directly into the teeth of the blizzard at their ordinary velocity of not less than ninety miles an hour." This may sound rather strong to some, but their flight is certainly very rapid, as any gunner will testify. The "fish ducks," or mergansers, are an interesting group of three American species, of which the hooded is the smallest. The long, slender, toothed or serrated bill of this group provides a field character which will serve to identify them at a glance. It is to be hoped that their habit of feeding largely upon fish will prove a protection from entire extermination. THE TRUMPETERS. The winds of March are trumpeters, They blow with might and main, And herald to the waiting earth The Spring and all her train. They harbinger the April showers, With sunny smiles between, That wake the blossoms in their beds, And make the meadows green. The South will send her spicy breath, The brook in music flow, The orchard don a bloomy robe Of May's unmelting snow. Then June will stretch her golden days, Like harp-strings, bright and long, And play a rich accompaniment To every wild bird's song. The fair midsummer time, apace, Shall bring us many a boon, And ripened fruits, and yellow sheaves Beneath the harvest-moon. The golden-rod, a Grecian torch, Will light the splendid scene, When Autumn comes in all the pomp And glory of a queen. Her crimson sign shall flash and shine On every wooded hill, And Plenty's horn unto the brim Her lavish bounty fill. --_Andrew Downing._ CLOVES. (_Eugenia caryophyllata Thunberg._) DR. ALBERT SCHNEIDER, Northwestern University School of Pharmacy. Biron--A lemon. Lang--Stuck with cloves. --_Shakespeare, Love's Labor Lost, V. 2._