1909] Birds Observed at Ottawa. 263 



could be seen every day, sometimes only a part of the flock and 

 then again all, until the 24th of January, when the queer rain 

 and subsequent freezing coated everything thickly with ice. 

 They were, however, seen as late as February 22nd. This and 

 the species next mentioned are about the two most irregular 

 and erratic birds we have. Their coming and going follows no 

 recognizable rule or law; they are in no wise migrants, but only 

 aimless wanderers. They may come here next winter again, in 

 greater numbers than in this, or the}" may not again turn up for 

 many years. Their breeding range and habits are but imperfectly 

 known. In winter they may turn up anywhere, but in summer 

 they have only been seen in the stunted spruce stands around 

 Hudson Bay ; in the Mackenzie Basin at Great Bear Lake ; at the 

 sources of the Athabasca River and high up in the Rocky Mount- 

 ains in British Columbia, and at Banff and Canmore. Thev make 

 their nests of moss, etc., well up in pines and firs. It is a beautiful 

 bird, much like the Cedarbird, only larger and handsomer. 



On February 7th a flock of the rare and pretty Evening 

 Grosbeaks (Hesperiphona vespertina) put in an appearance in 

 the Somerset-Cartier Streets' neighborhood. While they are not 

 at all averse to rowan berries, they prefer the seeds of the 

 Manitoba or ash-leaved maple {Acer Negundo). There were 

 thirteen of them, and the males in their handsome yellow, white, 

 black and dark olive-brown plumage certainly presented a fine 

 sight. They would' often alight on the roofs of houses or sheds and 

 eat snow and perhaps clean themselves in it. The females and 

 young are much less conspicuous, being a uniform gray over the 

 head and body, the wings being black and white, and a tinge of 

 olive on the neck and breast. A flock of seven was seen on the 

 Experimental Farm. In their proclivities for apparently aimless, 

 erratic wandering, this species is just like the Waxwings, and 

 they also share the same breeding range. Bird-lovers here 

 consider them.selves fortunate in having seen these two rare 

 species in one winter, which perhaps will not happen again in a 

 life-time. Many observers in other places look for these birds 

 diligently all their lives and never see them. 



Besides these, our more common, but none the less equally 

 welcome winter visitors, the Pine Grosbeaks {Pinicola enudeator) , 

 are here again in numbers. They too are most numerous in the 

 same general district, where the first two stayed. When one 

 sees below a rowan tree debris of berries lying about, he may be 

 sure that some of these birds have been there eating, or are still 

 there. When eating, which they nearly always do, they are very 

 silent, and it sometimes takes a good hard look to discover them 



