56 



THE OOLOGIST. 



It took me a good half hour to get to 

 that nest, but when I got there all else 

 was forgotten for there lay four beauti- 

 fully marked and perfectly fresh eggs. 

 Red tails by their markings and from 

 her scream I knew them to. be, but had 

 they b@^n Golden Eagles' eggs, I should 

 hardlyt'have been more delighted. 



Thgrt^'When I had had a rest, I struck 

 off across the hills for home with a 

 light heart, and you who have wandered 

 far afield in this pursuit know full well 

 that it was well after dark ere the 

 lights of home came into view. 

 (To be continued.) 



Personally I am not competent to 

 state as to completeness of set of 2 of 

 337b, but am certain that 2 is very of- 

 ten a complete set of the Eastern Bird. 

 Ed. 



NOTES ON THE WARBLERS OF CAN- 

 ADA. 



By W. L. KELLS. 

 The Mourning Warbler. 



(Geothlypis Philadelphia.) 



The Mourning Warbler though not 

 abundant in any district, is yet pretty 

 widely distributed over the province of 

 Ontario, as well as other divisions of 

 eastern Canada, but it is among the 

 last of the family to announce its vern- 

 al advent amid the wild scenery of its 

 summer haunts. Usually, when the 

 expanding buds of the lower underwood 

 are bursting into leaves, when the yellow 

 bloom of the leather wood scents the 

 spring time air, and the virgin soil of 

 the forest, is variegatad by the early 

 wild flowers of the season, the observer 

 of bird migrations, if in the vicinity of 

 its chosen summer home, will be enabl- 

 ed by the sound of its song, to add to 

 his list this species, as among the more 

 recent arrivals from the sunny south. 

 But, as the month of July advances, its 

 nesting period is over, its notes for the 

 seasons are silent, and the bird itself 



appears to be among the first of the 

 members of its family to take its de- 

 parture from the uncultivated scenery 

 of its summer home, and begin its 

 aerial voyage towards its tropical win- 

 ter residence in the regions of Central 

 America. 



Here it enjoys the pleasures of exist- 

 ing amid perpetual summer, during 

 that portion of the year when its Ca- 

 nadian fatherland feels the chilly 

 breath of the ice king, is covered with 

 a mantle of snow, and swept by the 

 wild storms of winter. In March it 

 begins its northward journey, but two 

 months pass away before it reaches the 

 terminus of its winged voyage in the 

 region of its northern range and sum- 

 mer home ; and here begins again one 

 of the chief objects of its migration 

 movements, i. e., the propagation of 

 its species, and when the period during 

 which this can only be done, is over, 

 the impulses to return towards the 

 south seem strong, and to yield to the 

 promptings of nature, in this matter, 

 is not long delayed ; for, by the middle 

 of September, if not earlier, all the 

 species of the genus have disappeared, 

 though some individuals may linger 

 longer amid the scenery of their sum- 

 mer haunts, in the thicket and swamp, 

 than is now known. 



The haunt and home of the Mourning 

 Warbler, during the period of its resi- 

 dence in Canada, is generally on the 

 margins of lowland woods, or second 

 growth swamps, where there is an in- 

 termingling of young under wood, fall- 

 en brush and Raspberry vines. It may 

 also occasionally be found to frequent 

 wooded ravines, the sides of brush cov- 

 ered hills and the margins of mud bot- 

 tomed creeks, which are found to me- 

 ander their courses through what are 

 called "beaver meadows," where there 

 is deep concealment, and here, amid 

 the thick foliage, one strain of the song 

 notes of the male of this species, may 

 often be heard in the midsummer days. 



