March, 1921.] 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist. 



57 



T. Leathern, Hunting Ducks in close 

 season. Fine $10.00. 



Sihing Ohong, Mallard Ducks in shop 

 for sale. Fine $10.00. 



Sam Lee, Mallard Ducks in shop for 

 sale. Fine $10.00. 



G. A. Sharp, Mallard Ducks in shop for 

 sale. Fine $10.00. 



Wong Wee, Did buy a Mallard Duck. 

 Fine $10.00. 



Northwest Game Act Prosecutions. 



A. Adams, Little Buffalo River, N. 

 W. T. Trapping: without a license. Two 

 mink skins seized. Fine $5.00. 



NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 

 Notes and Observations on. the White- Winged Crossbill. 



In many ways the past winter was a 

 remarkable season. Snow covered the 

 ground on the 13th of November, and al- 

 though we had exceptionally mild weather 

 with intermittent rains and no prolonged 

 snow-falls, yet the temperature was con- 

 sistently even and sufficiently low to keep 

 the ground snow-covered until early 

 March. On the 13th of March the fields 

 about Montreal were practically bare and 

 I was a little doubtful about undertaking 

 a previously arranged snowshoe tramp 

 with mv friend, Mr. W. J. Brown. How- 

 ever, armed with very large snowshoes and 

 proportionately large 'boeufs', I ran the 

 gauntlet of interrogative glances and was 

 glad to reach the station and further com- 

 pany. Snowshoeing on bare ground is not 

 a conventional sport. Reaching He Jesus, 

 adjacent to Montreal Island, conditions 

 were reversed and bare spots the excep- 

 tion ; while throughout a large spruce 

 forest, twenty-five miles farther north, 

 the snow was between two and three feet 

 in depth. 



Earlier in the morning, at St. Lambert, 

 I had seen a few Robins, Song Sparrows 

 and Bluebirds; but here were no cheery 

 greetings from spring arrivals, although I 

 saw a Marsh Hawk and a Red-shouldered 

 Hawk, and glimpsed a furtive sparrow in 

 the spruce undergrowth that I failed to 

 identify. On the other hand here was a 

 probable part explanation of the dearth of 

 birds about urban districts during the past 

 winter. Black-capped Chickadees were 

 fairly common about twenty-five being 

 noted in two flocks. During former win- 

 ters I almost invariably saw this bird on 

 all of my walks in the vicinity of Mont- 



real. I always counted on seeing at least 

 the Chickadee until the past Wint^er, 

 when I seldom saw it and then in greatly 

 reduced numbers. In these spruce woods 

 (mainly Black Spruce and Tamarack) 

 one Canada Jay was seen, an Arctic Three- 

 toed Woodpecker and four or five Red- 

 breasted Nutlhatches, but the most noti- 

 ceable bii'ds were Pine Siskins and White- 

 winged Crossbills. 



The Siskins were well distributed in 

 small groups and pairs ( ?) and many 

 were heard singing. Probably twenty- 

 five were noted. 



The Crossbills were also distributed 

 in small groups but their erratic move- 

 ments made it difficult to determine their 

 numbers. All those that were plainly 

 seen were males. Several were heard 

 singing from spruce tops and one gave 

 a remarkable flight-song just skimming 

 the tops of the conifers on fluttering 

 wings, while giving a series of trilled 

 songs continued througlhout a fligM ot 

 about one hundred yards, w*hen the singer 

 pitched into a spruce tree. Following, 

 I found it feeding in the tip of a Black 

 Spruce with two other males. 



One song, or flight-note, that was 

 heard several times, recalled the tremu- 

 lous twitter of the Snow Bunting so 

 strongly tjhiat I was at first inclined tlhus 

 to record it. On March 27th we revis- 

 ited this locality, minus our snowshoes, 

 but found still a good two feet of snow 

 in most placesi and progress was labor- 

 ious. Althoug'h two flocks of ten and 

 twenty White-winged Crossbills were seen 

 feeding on tamarack seeds, and other 

 birds were heard in flight, we were un- 



