February, 1919] 



The Ottawa Naturalist 



I4Q 



Territories, and is the commonest species up to the 

 56th parallel, north of which it yields in frequency 

 to the three-toed species." This very well confirms 

 the scarcity of the three-toed varieties and the abun- 

 dance of the Hairy Woodpecker in this in- 

 stance, but should scarcely account for the entire 

 absence of the former when they occur at Edmon- 

 ton in practically the same parallel, namely 53, 

 35' north. 



(II) Canada Jays (Perisoreus canadensis) were 

 everywhere common, as I suppose they are in most 

 northern woods. No sooner is camp made for a 

 short time, than suddenly they appear to make 

 friends, with plaintive mewings, or harsh ca-ca-ca's, 

 and other peculiar notes. They are very inquisitive 

 and social birds and afford real interesting study in 

 their ways and habits. 



I have spent many e.xhilirating moments watching 

 these insatiable elfs, greedily stowing away food, 

 gulping and choking and still trying with greater 

 efforts to extend their capacity. What is impossible 

 for them to eat at the time is very cunningly carried 

 away and secreted in niches of nearby trees. They 

 have no aversion to very questionable eatables, as a 

 note from my journal of December 2nd indicates, 

 and illustrates nicely this voracious tendency: 



"Whisky-jacks carried away my last cake of 

 Lifebuoy soap to-day, but- fortunately I found it 

 some distance away beneath the spruces, where 

 they had conveyed it for greater secrecy. To my 

 amusement they had eaten a generous sized hole 

 from the centre. It would be interesting to know 

 how they feel." 



I subsequently learned that the soap and its influ- 

 ences detained my little friends from making their 

 usual appearances for three consecutive days, but at 

 the end of which time, after fearing the worst, they 

 ambled in again as hale as ever. 



This disposiion of canadensis leads many woods- 

 men to indulge in harmless trickery upon the luckless 

 birds and become convulsed with laughter at the 

 ludicrous pranks they play: for instance, on the end 

 of a string with mealy tid-bit attached. 



(12) Ravens (Corvus corax principalis) were 

 observed only on two occasions, both during the 

 month of October. 



(13) Pine Grosbeaks (Pinicolo enucleator 

 leucura) or Pemonlana ? (14) Redpolls (Acanthis 

 linaria), and (15) SiSKINS (Spinus pinus) were 

 very common ; the two former becommg much more 

 so after November 1 0th. 



(16) I saw only one flock of White-WINGED 

 Crossbills (Loxia leucopter) which were feeding 

 on a low spruce near the Hay river on November 

 5th. 



(17) Near the same place on the afternoon of 

 October 25th, I came upon a solitary individual of 



the Gray-crowned Leucosticte (Leucosticte 

 fephrocitis) ; it was the only one observed on the 

 trip. 



(18) A single Tree Sparrow (Spizella moniicola 

 ochracea) in company with a number of (19) 

 JuncOS (Junco hyemalis or Junco oregonus 

 shufeldii) was noted on October 29th. They fre- 

 quented low shrubbery, skirting a small brook that 

 emptied into the Hay river. 



(20) The American Dipper (Cinclus mexi- 

 canus unicolor) was always to be seen along the 

 open ripples. When a "Chinook" blew for a time 

 from passes to the west, and flooded the ice and 

 extended the open places it suited the little ousel all 

 the better. It always is a matter of interest to watch 

 the little fellows diving deep into the cold spray of 

 the stream and come up bobbing serenely, with a 

 mouth full of green litchen or algae. They then 

 convey it to the margin of the ice and select from it 

 what suits them best. Their feeding places are 

 marked on the ice by long narrow lines of green 

 litchen grass, and little bits of gravel and silt. 



What pleases me is the solemn air of importance 

 they frequently possess, paddling around on the 

 stream, head erect, bobbing over the ripples like a 

 miniature duck and all the while in their comical 

 erratic behaviour, twisting and turning suddenly this 

 way and that as suits their fancy. 



They frequently resort to the tree-tops when 

 disturbed, displaying a surprising range of adapt- 

 ability, when it is remembered that they are, com- 

 paratively, expert in the water and very active on 

 land. They are truly very interesting little birds. 



(21) In the darkest and loneliest coniferous 

 forests of the greater foothills, I discovered the only 

 place frequented by the Red-BREASTED NuTHATCH 

 (Sitla canadensis). Here they occurred in great 

 numbers, the gloomy spruces seeming alive with 

 them in certain places, and their thin nasal ^a-na-, 

 ya-na murmured incessantly down the stillness of the 

 forest. The mystery of the great conifers draped in 

 clinging moss, with the calls of winter birds, casts 

 quite an enchanting spell upon the otherwise breath- 

 less silence. 



(22) Black-capped (Penthestes airicapillus 

 suplenirionalis) and (23) HuDsoNiAN Chickadees 

 (P. hudsonicus hudsonicus) occurred in about equal 

 numbers, and the occason lent itself very agreeably 

 to an extended acquaintance with hudsonicus, of 

 which until this time I had seen but one living 

 example. At Edmonton, comparatively but such a 

 short distance east, I never saw them. Their notes 

 are much coarser than those of the Red-cap or 

 Long-tailed varieties and serve to quite accurately 

 identify them at a distance. 



