^hSP^] Mousley, Birds of Hatley, Quebec. 305 



mon transient; September 22-26. On the morning of September 22, 

 1917, I had only crossed one field after leaving home, when I observed 

 a strange bird on the fence rails, which I at once knew must either 

 be a Pipit or a Wagtail from my experience of these species in the 

 ' old country.' I secured the example and found it to be an American 

 Pipit. At the report of the gun another fourteen got up and started to 

 fly away, but returned almost at once on my whistling them, which enabled 

 me to view them at close quarters. Two days later I saw another flock of 

 eleven securing one, which with the other I presented to the Victoria 

 Memorial Museum at Ottawa. On the last date given above I only saw 

 one example. 



161. Troglodytes aedon aedon (Vieillot). House Wren. — Rare 

 transient; May 19; August 6 to September 22. In August of 1915 I got 

 a fleeting glance of a wren which I took to be one of this species, but did 

 not consider identification sufficiently good to include it in my 1911-1915 

 list. However in the following year from August 11-15, I got on intimate 

 terms with one of these birds, and visited him every day between these 

 dates. He generally commenced by scolding me well, but on two occasions 

 ended up with a little song, but nothing I imagine to be compared with his 

 spring achievement in this line. He also had a pretty way of basking in the 

 sun with his breast pressed closely to the branch or log, when he would put 

 one leg under his wing, and extend it to its fullest extent. On the above 

 date in May, 1917, I saw just one example which I secured and gave it to 

 the Victoria Memorial Museum at Ottawa. In the fall of the same year 

 on August 6 and 10, I again saw an adult bird (practically in the same 

 place each time), feed an immature well able to fly. Two other examples 

 were seen, one on August 31, and the other on September 22. The above 

 notes should prove interesting in view of the rareness of this wren in 

 eastern Quebec, out of which no doubt it has been driven by the advent of 

 the English Sparrow, the same as it was in Maine. 



162. Cistothorus stellaris (Naumann). Short-billed Marsh 

 Wren. — Rare transient. May 21. On the above date in 1917, I saw one 

 of these birds near a small stream running through the center of a damp 

 meadow much overgrown with long rank tussocky grass and some alder 

 bushes, and although I had my gun with me at the time, I must admit I 

 was so surprised at seeing a new wren and one decidedly rare for these 

 parts, that I failed to fire when I had the chance, and the bird slipped 

 away amongst the long grass, and I was unable to find it again. In spite of 

 my inability to produce the example I give the record as I know I neither 

 confused it with a Winter or a House Wren, both of which I am familiar 

 with, and whilst the general ochraceous buffy appearance of the bird with 

 its short bill was still fresh in my mind, I went directly home (as the 

 meadow was not far off) and after looking up plate No. 102 in Eaton's 

 ' Birds of New York ' 1914, I had no misgivings in my own mind that 

 what I had seen was one of the above species. 



163. Penthestes hudsonicus nigricans (Chas. W. Townsend). 



