154 Tin: Wii.sox I'.in.LF.TiN — No. fiS 



this bird rc([iiires the face of a sand bank beside the water 

 for nesting', it was qitite a surprise to find even two, as the 

 country is almost exclusivel}' clay. A colony of bank swal- 

 lows was found near iilenheim in a j^it, but no Rough-wings 

 could be found among- them. The Short-billed Marsh Wren 

 was noticed at only one ]:)oint where a luale was singing". It 

 was immediatel}' l^eneath an Eagies' nest, which we did not 

 care to disturb and therefore did not spend much time with 

 the wren as the eagle was very much concerned at our pres- 

 ence near its young', which could be seen when one was not 

 too close to the nest. The Cardinal was expected perhaps 

 more confidently than any other of the birds sought owing 

 to its comparative abundance on Point Pelee, but it was not 

 until the last day within two miles of Ridgetown that one 

 was heard whistling from a treetop by the road-side. 



The Dickcissel was formerly common throughout Western 

 Ontario at almost every point that I had the opportunity of 

 visiting, but during the last ten years they have vanished 

 almost completely, and no trip had disclosed any of them in 

 the last five years. One or two years ago Dr. Walker re- 

 ])orted that he believed he had found a pair near Ridgetown, 

 but T was unable to visit the locality to confirm the record. 

 It was therefore a great satisfaction to find two males singing 

 in a field near Blenheim, and as their song is so easily recog- 

 nized and has such good carrving power, it seems as though 

 they must be very rare indeed through the territory travelled. 

 It may be that we are about to see them beconie more com- 

 mon again as is the custom with very many of our l)irds. In 

 fact I have been surprised in recent years to see what a large 

 number of the less common birds show great dififerences in 

 their numliers from year to year. 



An interesting Black Tern was seen near the west end of our 

 walk. It was one which had carried over the young plumage 

 to the present year and as nearly as we could tell, the colors 

 were as usual, but the bird was flying around with a lot of 

 normal plumaged adults, who were evidently concerned at our 

 near approach and were doubtless nesting. 



