164 The Ottawa Naturalist. [December 



Asiatic maple {Acer Ginnala) , the fruit of the Berry-bearing Crab 

 {Pirus baccata), and the berries of the Mountain Ash. None ot 

 the-e birds had the rich plumage of the adult male. I cannot 

 remember in previous years noticing any of these birds so early in 

 the autumn. Mr. Harrington, however, tells me that he saw 

 about a hundred of them on the ground and in the trees along 

 Meech Lake, Que., on the previous Sunday, October i8th. Mr. 

 W. E Saunders also saw them at Rat Portage in October, but 

 this last named locality is of course much nearer to their breeding 

 grounds than we are. 



The chief object of this note is not, however, so much to 

 record the occurrence of these birds as to urge the members of 

 the Field-Naturalists' Club to try and prevent the senseless 

 destruction by thoughtless boys ot these beautiful and delightfully 

 tame winter visitors. They are so tame and confiding that with- 

 out the slightest difficulty they can be approached within six or 

 eight feet. We have far too few of our bird friends which visit 

 us in the winter, and all should do their utmost to protect those 

 few which do come to us, as our guests, for food and shelter, in 

 winter time. 



Very few boys are really cruel ; but nearly all are ill-informed 

 concerning the common objects oi the country. Pointing out that 

 a thing is wrong seldom has the effect of preventing boys trom 

 doing it; but might we not appeal to them by pointing out the 

 cowardice of killing "^uch beautiful and gentle creatures as these 

 little birds, which do not make an effort to protect themselves 

 and trust us so much, as hardly to get out ot our way when we 

 come within a few feet of them? Catching these wild birds and 

 putting them in a cage is practically destroying them, because 

 very few of those caught will live in a cage, and they are perhaps 

 the least suited of all of our wild birds to be kept in captivity. 

 Although the soft notes are charming when heard in a state of 

 nature, the song is not such as would justify anyone for keeping 

 the Pine Grosbeak in captivity. As cage-birds, they are large 

 clumsy birds which scatter their food and make a great mess, and 

 they soon become uninteresting to their ciptors. Lastly, they 

 are Arctic birds which only lome south in the winter, and. 

 although with great care they may be kept through a summer, 

 with the exception of perhaps one in a thousand, all die as <.oon 

 as the hot weather comes. 



James Fletcher. 



