and are happy in the naturally acidic soils of the Island. Furthermore,

they thrive only in areas that are not too hot and do especially well in places where night temperatures are cool. Fortunately, they are winter

hardy. Ideal locations for them include: their native Pacific West Coast,

New England, the Maritime Provinces and regions just north of the Great . Lakes. New Zealand also grows lupins well.

In other parts of the country, ********************************* such as southern Ontario, lupins may ‘ grow but they will not thrive as they fl do here — it is simply too hot in sum— I mer for their liking.

Lupin seeds scattered about in late summer will not germinate until the following spring. The seed coat is extremely hard and it takes the harsh

winter weather to crack it. It is one nature's ways to prevent the seedling H

from emerging at the wrong time. The young plants grow vegetatively their » first year and generally do not flow— er until they are 2 years old. Once 5* flowering, they may continue to do so for a few years but, as a rule, lupins . are not long—lived perennials. However

new plants coming along each year keep if? M

the stocks healthy. “y '«rat Greenwich. Geoff saw

Sometimes lupins are considered a \/ noxious weed on the premise that they %%V I are harmful to livestock. Indeed, I ,1 have read that they may cause sick— ness in cattle although one would as- sume that this is not common nor se— vere as the plants grow so freely now and few reports of lupin poisoning are heard of.

The reputation of P.E.I. as the Garden of the Gulf never seems truer than when the lupins are flowering. This is one introduced alien plant that I for one am glad we have. ****

fl Geoff Hogan, recording gsecretary and past-

/ president of the Nat— \gy,ural History Society, -%/has confirmed that

~‘Lsigns of pileated wood;

hpeckers have been found

V

angular excavations in trees on October 6 and 7. There have been no . confirmed sightings of the birds on the Island since the turn of the century. Geoff will be doing a feature story

in the next issue of the Island Naturalist with more information.

w

***’******************~k******

Quite a performance

(The following report came from NHS member Geoff Robinson of Tyne Valley)

Dorothy and I want to report a most unusual sighting last night about 1900 hours ten miles west of Wood Islands terminal on the Trans—Canada Highway. Sitting on a post was a large hawk - with the road side ditch and nothing more separating the road from the post. We watched it for about ten minutes together with several other people who stopped th eir vehicles. It was quite unafraid — almost tame. On three occasions it flew down into the undergrowth of the ditch but we are not sure what it was after. After one of the sight-seers got a little too close, the bird crossed the road appearing to fly normally and landed in some foliage on the other side.

It was much too large for a Cooper's Hawk. Unfortunately I am not ex- pert enough to make a positive identification but I would feel it was an immature Goshawk (Plate 33 of Petersen's Field Guide to the Birds). Perhaps someone more expert than I may be fortunate enough to see‘it.

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