ARRIVAL OF SUMMER BIRDS. 109 



lews alive, since I found that several, having taken 

 fast hold of the lining of the gullet with their 

 mandibles, remained sticking there, and even after 

 death required some force to detach them. The tree 

 bunting (Fringilla canadensis), black-finch (F. hye- 

 ■malts), and white-crowned finch (F. leucophrys)* 

 were also early visitors, and soon after their arrival 

 began to construct their nests. The Lapland finch 

 was also seen, but only on its passage to the coast. 

 The Lestris richardsonii flew about in pairs, and 

 was observed to have the habit of quartering the 

 ground like the hen-harrier. In the stomach of 

 one which I killed, there were the skin and some 

 of the bones of a mouse, rolled into a ball, like the 

 pellets that are rejected from the stomach of an 

 owl. The purple-throated diver visited Bear Lake 

 River in considerable numbers. This species is 

 easily distinguished from the great northern diver 

 (C. glacialis), while flying, by its swollen, bluish- 

 grey neck. Almost all the summer birds arrived 

 before we left that neighbourhood ; but I have enu- 

 merated only the earliest comers, or those which 

 I had not previously seen in so high a latitude, 



* I have already mentioned the nocturnal song of this bird, 

 which breeds throughout Rupert's Land. In attempting to ex- 

 press its clear, loud notes by syllables, the nearest approach 

 I could make was cheet-cheet, tareet, cheet, cheet. The first 

 two syllables are loud and high, the next two short, and the 

 two last lower and softer. 



