1909] The Ottawa Naturalist. 49 



them into a much more musical frame of mind. The group 

 found on this trip consisted of about 20 or 30 each of Redwings 

 and Rusty Blackbirds, 50 Purple Finches, 100 Tree Sparrows, 

 5 White-throats and 50 Redpolls, with an occasional Carolina 

 Wren. All of these were singing nicely, though of course they 

 had not yet their full spring voices. Added to these were others, 

 such as Juncos, Bluebirds, Waxwings and Goldfinches, which 

 were not as yet singing at all but the melody produced by all 

 these sweet voices was exceedingly agreeable to our ears, eager 

 as we were for bird music. Each day this group of birds was to 

 be found in the same spot which was evidently the song centre 

 for the whole Point. 



On our former trip we saw four Vesper Sparrows and toward 

 the end of February Messrs. Taverner and Swales also saw four 

 of these, but on the present occasion only one was noted. This, 

 however, is sufficient to show that this species does winter in 

 Canada, although in small numbers. 



With the thawing of the ice in the marsh the muskrat 

 trapping had begun and the ducks were returning. Black Ducks 

 were in the majority but Redheads, Ruddys and Buffles were 

 also there, and on the open Lake the two large Mergansers and 

 the Golden Eye, nearly 200 altogether were seen. 



The Bohemian Waxwings of our former trip were gone and 

 we saw no Grosbeaks either, but winter had left one representa- 

 tiA^e behind in the person of a Snowflake. We had not a very 

 good view of this bird but it appeared to be acquiring the black 

 spring plumage. 



The last birds which we added to our list were the Kildeer 

 and Bronzed Grackle, only 7 of the latter. At London one is 

 puzzled to know which Blackbird arrives first and my own idea 

 has been that the Bronzed is ahead of the others, but our ex- 

 perience at Pelee seems to point to the Redwing and Rusty as 

 the earlier species, with the Cowbird next, followed closely_ by 

 the Bronzed, of which there had been no noteworthy arrival 

 up to March 15th. Of course the relative date of arrival in other 

 years might vary from that of 1909, but certainly Point Pelee 

 seems to be the' place where migrations can be studied under 

 advantages which cannot be obtained elsewhere. 



One exceedingly striking point noted during last autumn, 

 and this spring so far, has been the entire absence of any migra- 

 tory movement on the part of the Chicadee. One bird, I think, 

 comprises the whole number seen in about eighteen days' 

 observation during the period mentioned, showing that this 

 bird sometimes, at least, is practically resident. 



The following list comprises as nearly as possible the birds 

 seen on the three days of this latter trip: 



