THE OTTAWA NATURALIST 



VOL. XXV. OTTAWA, AUGUST, 1911 No. 5 



NATURAL HISTORY NOTES FROM CALGARY, ALTA. 

 By Norman Criddle, Treesbank, Max. 



The following notes are from observations recorded at. 

 and in the vicinity of, Calgary, during the months of January, 

 February, March and April, 1911. 



Calgary is chiefly situated in a valley caused by the shift - 

 ings of the Bow and Elbow Rivers; it is surrounded for the 

 most part, by rolling prairie and as there are few trees of natural 

 growth, the situation, though a picturesque one, is not of the 

 best from a collector's point of view. The river banks, how- 

 ever, yield some interesting life, and a few miles to the west, 

 all in the city limits, is a large bank well wooded with aspen 

 poplar, spruce and various shrubs. Here, too, is situated a 

 gray sandstone quarrv showing numerous fossils, and no doubt 

 svstematic work would bring to light much of interest. There 

 are, also, some balsam, poplar, and other trees along the river 

 banks, and numerotis fine voung trees may be seen in the city 

 itself. In fact, there are manv interesting objects in nearly 

 every branch of natural history, and the enthusiastic young 

 society formed for just such a study will find lots to do for 

 many years to come. 



The winter climate is usually a mild one, but as I witnessed. 

 can be extremely cold at times. The changes in temperature 

 are, also, remarkably rapid, and it is these sudden changes 

 coupled with the small snow fall that make successful treeplant- 

 ing, especially deciduous trees, so difficult to accomplish. 



For the first two months little wild life was observed. 

 Redpolls were the only common birds that could be seen daily 

 among the weeds on vacant lots, doing what others had neglected, 

 namely, destroying weed seeds. On March 3rd, I made this 

 note in my journal : "So far the following birds have been seen 

 during the winter: Magpies, Northern Shrike, Snow Buntings, 

 Redpolls, Pine Grosbeaks and House Sparrows." The first 

 spring arrival was a Slate-coloured Junco, on March 

 21. Other birds were first observed on the following dates it 



