380 Mr. W. E. Brooks's Stray 



The great differences, as appears to me, are these — (1) that 

 L. mutus ^ , in spring, has the breast clothed more or less 

 in deep black feathers, not one of which is to be seen in 

 L. rupestris, and (2) that L. mutus (of both sexes) in autumn 

 puts on a lavender-grey upper dress, of which there is only 

 the least trace in any examples of L. rupestris (your nos. 5 

 and 6 [both adult males and one of which is figured] showing 

 the most of it that I have ever seen), while the majority 

 [being younger birds] have not any trace of such a colour. 

 The female specimens of your series are also very interesting, 

 but call for no particular remark, except that the coloured 

 portion of their plumage is darker than I had expected to see, 

 judging from others, killed in autumn, that I have/' 



XL. — Stray Ornithological Notes. By W. Edwin Brooks, 

 Milton, Ontario, Canada. 



Since I came to Canada I have principally paid attention to 

 the birds of European affinity, to the neglect of the so-called 

 " Warblers " of Canada, with their sharp-pointed, almost 

 Parine bills, although my youngest son takes a great intei'cst 

 in the latter. 



One of our commonest birds in Ontario is the Shore-Lark 

 (Otocorys alpestris). During the comparatively mild open 

 winter of 1881-1882 some of these birds remained here the 

 whole winter. Even in January, during fine frosty mornings, 

 I heard them singing, usually seated on the top of the fence- 

 posts ; we have no hawthorn hedges here, only wooden rail 

 fences. The song of the Shore-Lark has been sometimes 

 spoken of as very melodious, but 1 do not think any bird has 

 a poorer one ; it is almost exactly like that of the European 

 Common Bunting, a sort of monotonous drawl. Unlike any 

 other species with which I am acquainted, this bird has a 

 second song, perhaps even less melodious than the drawl, a 

 feeble unmusical twitter, which it does not often utter, and I 

 only remember hearing it as the bird soared round, some- 

 thing in the manner of a Sky-Lark ; but it also sometimes 



