of the vicinity of Montreal, 353 



displayed by it in baffling the purposes of its torm enter. Accord- 

 ing to Nuttall's account, this bird when a foreign Qgg has been 

 deposited in her nest, at once builds a second flooring thus making 

 two stories, the cow-bunting's ag^ with her own being buried in 

 the lower story. She then lays her complement again, and gene- 

 rally proceeds without further molestation. But nests have been 

 found three stories high thus showing her great perseverance. 

 The following characters are all that are necessary. Color of the 

 whole at first sio-ht of a rich ofolden vellow, but the back is a little 

 greenish, and the tips of the wings brown ; length five inches ; 

 extent seven inches. 



The Chestnut-sided Warbler {Sylvicola ictrocepkala, Lath.) 

 This delightful warbler, is one of the first seen in spring, as he 

 darts in and out among the spreading branches of the bass-wood 

 tree. Mountainous country is his favorite place of resort; seldom 

 is he seen about orchards or gardens ; being extremely sliy, but 

 not exactly timid. His notes resemble those of the preceeding 

 species, but are not so loud. Among the many songsters on 

 which nature has lavished her colours, few are there that can 

 show a plumage as neat and diversified as that of the present 

 species. He is more abundant during spring than at any other 

 time ; few individuals breed here. The front and top of our 

 mountain is a favorite place of resort for this bird. It 

 appears that Audubon ransacked the borders of Lake Ontario, 

 and those of Lakes Erie and Michigan, without once meeting with 

 this species. He gives very little account of its habits, as he so 

 seldom met with it ; nor could he find any person at that time, 

 that was any more fortunate than himself. It is a pity that 

 Audubon did not take a tour round in this direction, where he 

 could have easily noted their habits. 



Specific characters, (Wils.) — Length five inches, extent seven 

 and three quarters. The front line over eye and ear feathers is 

 pure white ; upper part of the head, brilliant yellow; the lores 

 and space immediately below, are marked with a triangular patch 

 of black ; the back and hind head is streaked with gray, dusky, 

 black, and dull yellow; wings black; primaries edged with pale 

 blue; coverts broadly tript with yellow; secondaries, broadly 

 edged with the same; tail, black, forked, and edged with ash; 

 from the extremity of the black, at the lower mandible, on each 

 side, a streak of deep reddish chestnut descends along the sides 

 of the neck and under the wings, to the root of the tail ; the rest 



Can. Nat. 2 Vol. VL No. 5. 



