152 ' The ^^;1LS0N Bulletin— No. G8 



su.almllr birds of the southern edge of 

 western ontario. 



W. E. SAUNDERS. 



On June (!. I'M ID, ^.\l■. J. S. Wallace, of Toronto, began 

 with mc a walk of exi)loration along' the southern edg'e of 

 Western ( )ntario. We left Amherstburg. at the southwestern 

 corner of the j^rovince, at day break, and on the 10th, the walk 

 ended at Blenheim about fifty miles further east. The object 

 of the trip was to ascertain whether certain southern forms 

 which breed in moderate numbers on Point Pelee, extended 

 through the country near by. 



The species souglit were, the Chat, Cardinal, Carolina 

 Wren, and Bewik's Wren We were successful in finding 

 the first three, and although their numbers were small, yet the 

 distribution was wide enough to convince us that the Chat 

 and the Carolina Wren at least were regular breeders through 

 a considerable portion of the territory covered. In addition 

 to these, we found the Dickcissel near the east end of the 

 journey where two males were in full song in one field, but 

 we failed to find any trace whatever of the Lark or the 

 Henslow's ^Sparrows, both of which were expected. 



The taking of the first specimens of the Acadian Flycatcher 

 for (,"ana(la fully counterbalanced an.y disappointment we 

 may have felt at missing the species mentioned and brought 

 the trip to a very successful close. 



\ walking tri]:) has certain advantages in the way of free- 

 dom of movement over any other method of locomotion that 

 may be adopted, but (^f course progress is slow. One should 

 not exceed S or 10 miles of woods and fields in the course 

 of a da\' and an}- additional distance had to be covered on 

 road or railroad track, Init in the nesting season wdien the 

 birds are in fidl song, one's ears enable him to cover the 

 ground within ear shot with a fair degree of thoroughness, 

 even though he ma\- k'ccp walking all the time. After leav- 

 ing the southwest corner of the i^eninsula. we had proceeded 

 only three or four miles before we heard a Carolina Wren; 



