1912] The^Ottawa Naturalist. 101 



refusal to allow me to shoot anything, as there was " nothing but 

 robins here." Promising not to shoot, I went out to look, 

 and by "looking" at sufficiently close range, and from the right 

 direction, I scared the bird across the road; and having profited 

 by experience, I proceeded to shoot it first, and ask permission 

 afterwards. It proved to be a male in immature plumage, 

 spotted irregularly on the upper breast, the spots giving a hint 

 of the black colouration which was to come. The specimen is 

 now number 1797 in my collection. 



This short fragment of a song brought back to my memory 

 a peculiar song, consisting of a single whistled note pitched at 

 the usual range of the white-throat, which I heard as my train 

 stopped at'a station near Wabigoon, north-west of Lake Superior, 

 on June 30th, 1906. I had ascribed this song to the white- 

 throat, but, from its resemblance to the call of the captured 

 Harris, I feel sure that there is a chance of its author being of 

 the latter species. 



One would infer from Dr. Miller s reference that the Harris 

 was not uncommon at Nepigon, and if it turns out that it 

 breeds regularly north of Lake Superior, a southward migration 

 through lower Ontario should be noted with moderate frequency. 



Two of the dates quoted above are rather interesting, 

 Feb. 22nd, 1900, at the Sault, and March 18th, 1907, at London. 

 Both of them are much in advance of the white-throats' migra- 

 tion, and yet it appears that the date of the migration of Harris' 

 sparrow in the west is rather late, apparently between that of 

 the white-throat and the white-crown. 



It should also be mentioned that Mr. I. Hughes Samuel 

 saw a bird which he took to be a male of this species near 

 Toronto during the spring migration, about the year 1898, 

 but as no record had ever been published of the capture of this 

 bird in Lower Ontario, the occurrence was never published. 



Apparently this bird should be looked for in early flocks 

 of sparrows in February and March, and at that time all attempts 

 at a song resembling that of a white-throat should be carefully 

 investigated. 



THE CANADIAN RUFFED GROUSE. 



The Canadian Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus togata), 

 popularlv known as the "partridge," is one of our most widely- 

 distributed game birds, being found wherever there are wood's, 

 from New Brunswick to British Columbia, and as far north as 

 Hudson's Bay. It is a handsome grayish bird of markedly 



