OUR WINTER BIRDS. 35 



and a snowbird pie is considered a great dainty. They have 

 been found as late as the 28th of May (that is, a straggling bird) 

 near Newcastle. 



The Lapland longspur associates with the snow-bunting,and 

 its habits and food are about the same. An odd snowbird {Jun- 

 co Hyemalis) winters here, but I do not think it is a common 

 l>ird in this locality. 



Of the Laniidse we have the great northern shrike or butch- 

 er bird {Colhirio Borealiif), as an occasional visitor, or rather they 

 are rare. Becomes here in October, and goes north in April. 

 His colour is blueish ash, whitish below, with a black bar run- 

 ning through the eye. It has a bill midway between the seed- 

 eater and the hawk, and its food corresponds, for it consists of 

 insects, crickets, mice and birds. It carries consternation among 

 those little imported nuisances, the English sparrows. It has a 

 habit of impaling its victims on thorns on a tree, and leaving 

 them there, hence its name. By the way, the English sparrow 

 (Passer domeeh'ats), one of the Fringillida:', is also a winter resi- 

 dent, a quarrelsome, noisy, dirty little rascal, that eats every- 

 thing except what he was brought over here to eat (viz., insects), 

 fights Avith all the "old families," just as if he belonged here, and. 

 when he can find no other mischief to do, tears the leaves oflT the 

 apple and other trees just for pure deviltry. The butcher bird 

 and the sharpshinned hawk, however, have caught on to him. 



The brown creeper {Ccrthiafamiliariii),\\(ifi seen at Bartibogue 

 as late as December 20th, in 1891. but the fall and early winter 

 were mild and open. 



Of the Sittidfe we have the red-billed nut hatch (Sitta C'ann- 

 clcnsin). It is a restless, lively, chatty little fellow, and is found 

 in twos and threes among the chickadees very often. They are 

 insectivorous and examine the trees, commencing below and 

 working spirally upwards, and seem to confine their attention to 

 the main trunk and large branches, Avhile the chickadees ex- 

 amine the smaller branches. 



The chickadee is also a w-inter resident as well as a summer 

 bird here. We have two varieties of them, viz., the black-capped 

 chickadee or titmouse {Purus atricappillu'^), and the brown-cap- 

 ped {P. Hadsovius). They are tireless insect hunters, and there- 

 fore among our most u^^cful birds. It has been said tijnt one 



