Vol. XVIII 

 igoi 



I Fleming, Birds of Parry Sound and Muskoka. 'i'i 



A LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE DISTRICTS OF 

 PARRY SOUND AND MUSKOKA, ONTARIO. 



BY JAMES H. FLEMING. 



Parry Sound, and Muskoka are two districts lying to the east 

 of the Georgian Bay in the Province of Ontario. The formation! 

 is Laurentian ; the country is still largely covered with forest j 

 though a proportion of the better land has been cleared, rock, lake 

 and forest are what appear most prominently to the casual 

 observer. These districts form the west slope of the watershed 

 that finds its height in the Algonquin National Park, not far out- 

 side the east boundary of Parry Sound. The districts are 

 drained by the French River (the northern boundary of Parry 

 Sound), the Magnetawan, the Muskoka, and on the south, the 

 Severn ; all these run nearly west, and with assistance of many 

 tributaries and lesser rivers carry off the surplus water into the 

 Georgian Bay and thus to Lake Huron. 



The forest, with the exception of white pine, most of which has 

 been cut, is still largely in its primitive state, and forms a breeding 

 shelter for many species of birds, that in the older parts of Onta- 

 rio are only migrants, or, at the most, casual breeders. Many 

 resident species find their limit here, appearing only in the more 

 southern parts of Ontario when driven by stress of food. Although 

 such a breeding ground, the forest seems to contain few if any 

 birds, and only around the settlements are birds much in evidence. 

 With the gradual clearing of the land birds that were formerly 

 unknown in the districts are working gradually northward, though 

 without displacing the forest species. 



Of the ornithology of Parry Sound, as far as I know, nothing 

 has been printed, and of Muskoka little beyond the notes published 

 several years ago by Mr. A. Kay in the ' Transactions ' of the 

 Canadian Institute and the ' Biological Journal' of Ontario; Mr. 

 Kay, whose long residence in Muskoka makes his notes of excep- 

 tional value, has allowed me to make full use of them ; I have 

 also made full use of the valuable notes furnished by Mr. P. A. 

 Tavernier, principally relating to Lake Muskoka, about 30 species 



