1911] The Ottawa Naturalist. 61 



river front especially at Lachine has caused the Martins to 

 make extensive use of arc lamp reflectors. There are some 

 Martin boxes on Guy Street near the Lachine Canal that I have 

 passed almost daily during the last eight years. Early in the 

 spring the Sparrows invariably occupy these boxes and as 

 regularlv, about the 6th of May, two or three pairs of Martins 

 appear and immediately take possession. The Bank Swallow 

 does not abhor the city when suitable nesting sites are attainable, 

 and the Wood Pewee is a frequent summer resident. Both of 

 these birds feed, to a great extent, on the wing. It would appear 

 then, that birds pre-eminently of the air, can satisfactorily cope 

 with existing conditions in the city; on the other hand, those 

 of terrestrial habits, that feed largely amongst vegetation, are 

 proportionately rare. 



The average Upper Canadian town has a very fair popula- 

 tion of birds. One finds the Yellow Warbler, Goldfinch, Red- 

 eyed Yireo, Wood Pewee, Least Flycatcher, Oriole, Robin, 

 Bronzed Grackle and others mingling with the English Sparrow. 

 Here, almost every house, with the exception of those in the 

 commercial district, has its garden. Several Quebec towns ex- 

 hibit the other extreme in a marked degree. Even where land 

 is not at a premium, one will often find whole rows of houses 

 with no frontage and dusty back-yards for gardens. It is not 

 surprising that the Sparrow should prevail here as there is little 

 to attract other bird life. Travel into the country back of a 

 certain one of these towns, on the north shore of the St. Lawrence 

 and one will pass a succession of wooded ridges with a road in 

 each valley. Glance along one of these valley roads, with its 

 line of white-washed houses right in the dust of the highway 

 and you can almost estimate the population. The forest forms 

 an unbroken background on the distant ridge, while scarcely a 

 tree obstructs the vision in the foreground. Here is the source 

 of the conditions in the town and here again one finds the English 

 Sparrow predominant. 



Dendroica magnolia, Magnolia Warbler. 



"Transient visitant; common."* 



Though not at all a common breeder in the vicinity of 

 Montreal, I have thrice found its nest and have seen it on other 

 occasions during the breeding seasons. It is common in the 

 Laurentians to the north and one hundred miles to the east in 

 other words, it confines itself principally to the larger coniferous 

 belts. 



Dendroica virens, Black-throated Green Warbler. 



"Summer resident; common spring migrant but scarce 

 summer resident."* 



