ii8 The Ottawa Naturalist. [September 



area becomes dry plants suitable to the new conditions immediately 

 appear. In the Peace River region a great variety of conditions 

 exist in a very restricted area buteven if the patch of alkali soil is only 

 a few yards in extent or the dry hillside rises from among marshes 

 and bogs the plants found are those characteristic of these con- 

 ditions. 



The trees found are those to be met with everywhere in the 

 sub-arctic forest. The rivers are bordered by willows and balsam 

 poplar [Populus balsarniferd) while black spruce [Picea nigra) and 

 tamarac [Larix Atnericana) grow in swamps and wet ground 

 generally. The country as a whole is clothed with white spruce 

 {Picea alba) and aspen [Populus treniuloides) and an occasional 

 sandy ridge will be covered with Banksian pine, [Piiius Banksiana). 

 There is almost no birch in the country except on or near the tops 

 of the highest hills. None of the trees are large, 15 or 18 inches 

 being the usual diameter for the largest spruces but though re- 

 peated fires have in many parts almost destroyed the forest there 

 still remains an abundance of material for all the needs of the 

 settler. 



SOME BIRD-NOTES OF THE YEAR. 



By G. EiFRiG. 



A Red-letter Day for Warblers. — The high-water mark in 

 the spring migration of warblers was this year evidently reached 

 on May 23rd. A perfect wave of warblers together with some 

 thrushes, finches and wrens struck the city the night before this 

 date. These lively and cheerful denizens of the tree-tops were 

 very noticeable in the trees along our streets, in gardens and 

 especially in those along the north side of the Rideau, where the 

 bird army, coming from the low southern bank of the river would 

 naturally strike first. In the afternoon of the above date, at three 

 o'clock, I was in Lt.-Col. White's park, between Wurtemberg 

 street and the Rideau. I have never seen so many birds and such 

 a variety in so small a space before. In a spruce tree not over 

 thirty feet high, I saw within about ten minutes, the following 

 warblers: Blackpoll, Magnolia, parula, Blackburnin, bay-breasted, 

 black-throated blue, black-throated green and the redstart, several 



