49 



great variety, but none are common, the snowy owl and the great cin-jre- 

 ous owl have both been captured in winter near the Blue Mountain, and 

 I have seen specimens, as well as the Virginian horned owl, which is 

 generally distributed but not com;non. Of the long eared-owl, I saw a 

 specimen shot within a distance often miles, in November 1S90. The 

 short-eared owl, two specimens procured in the township of Lansdowne 

 in 1S90; the screech owl, (Meo^ascops asio) csiught at Lansdowne in 

 October 1891, which I now have alive; and the barred owl, and saw- 

 whet ; a specimen of the latter was caught alive at the river St. Lawrence 

 in June 1S90. All the^e varienes I have seen. Of other birds the 

 white-rumped shrike is common, the northern shrike {Lan'ius borealis) 

 appears every winter. The towhee {Pipi/o erythrophthalinus) is a 

 common bird, hatches in June. I found the nest with four eggs. May 

 19, '91. I noticed a pair of morning doves, {ZinaiUura macroiira) in 

 April 1891, in the township of Lansdowne. The flycatchers are com- 

 mon. I noticed a nest of the wood pewee, {Co?itopus virens) on a 

 horizontal branch of a beech tree in June last, and in the smie grcve 

 also on a beech tree obtained a nest of the ruby-throated hummingbird. 

 Of warblers the rarest I have seen is the " mourning," of this I watch'jd 

 a ne^t with four eggs in June 189 1. In marshy districts around Char- 

 leston Lake the long-billed marsh wren is very common, breeding in all 

 suitable locations ; the winter wren occasionally breeds, and in 1890 I 

 found a nest in a rotten stump close to the ground, not ten yards from 

 the tree on which the bald headed eagle nests, a striking reminder of 

 the frequent proximity of majesty and insignificance. Of water fowl, 

 the favourite haunts of these birds are so numeious, that it would be 

 strange if there were not a fair variety. The bittern, the great blue heron 

 the green heron, I think, though not quite sure, the black and wood 

 ducks, the coot, the horried grebe, {Colymbus auritus) all breed in the 

 Blue Mountain district, as too the woodcock, a nest of which species 

 with three eggs, I saw in June 1850; the Virginia rail, nest with nine 

 eggs June 17th 1891 and the kildeer plover. A nest of Bartram's sand- 

 piper was found in an uplan 1 meadjw in 18S9 with eggs and it is prob- 

 able th\t the solitary sandpiper also breeds, as I have seen the old birds 

 as late as June and as early as August. Of other birds I am assured by a 

 person who has travelled in the North NVest, that he saw a flock of sand 



