24 The Ottawa Naturalist. [April 



of these birds. In returning homeward the Blackburnian warbler 

 is added to the list of birds observed in a walk of a mile. Through 

 the meadow by the rear of the house were numerous chipping, 

 Savanna and vesper sparrows, and a pair each of flicker, bluebird > 

 white-bellied swallow, and several eave or cliff swallows. In a 

 swamp by the edge of the clearing the waterthrush lives. 



This was the banner day of the season, as eight new arrivals 

 were recorded. Insects of many species were likewise alert; 

 among numerous blooming plants were identified the white and 

 blue violets, dandelion, goldthread, swamp honeysuckle and 

 moosewood. 



Scotch Lake, N.B. 



Spergula arvensis, L. In Rhodora for August, 1905, Mr. 



M. L. Fernald notes the occurrence of Spergula saliva, Boenn., at 



New London, Conn. When examining the material of 5". arvensis 



in the Gray Herbarium he found plants collected by Dr. James 



Fletcher ot Ottawa in 1892 and distributed in Halsted's American 



Weeds as S, arvensis that are S. saliva. I have just examined all the 



Spergula in the herbarium of the Geological Survey and find that 



the only representatives of S. saliva there are from Denmark and 



Norway, and are so labelled by the collectors. All our other 



specimens from Canada, the United States and Europe are 



S. arvensis, our Ottawa specimens being from Wakefield and 



Pickanock. It is possible that in Halsted's distribution he mixed 



material from some other locality with that received from Dr. 



Fletcher, but 5" saliva should be looked for in this vicinity. S. 



saliva " has minutely punctulate, margined seeds, and in a living 



state can be distinguished by its decidedly viscous, dull grey-green 



leaves and branches; on the other hand, in S. vulgaris (S. arvensis) 



the seeds are obscurely margined, or totally devoid of wing, and 



beset with club-shaped papillae, generally quite black in fully 



matured seeds." 



Jas. M. Macoun, 



