6o Trotter, .Soi/te A''oz<(i Scotia Birds. LJan^ 



fortune changed when I visited Nova Scotia. Under date of July 

 II, 1901, is the following entry in my note book : "On the beach 

 of a small island [in Barrington Bay] saw four Ravens. They 

 were feeding on the head of a sheep. First heard the ' croak,' 

 then saw the four large birds slowly take wing and flop heavily 

 across the bay toward the further shore." There was no mistaking 

 the ominous croak for the caw of a Crow. At first we thought it 

 was the hoarse bark of a seal on the outer reefs. The Ravens 

 took a direction quite different from that which the Crows took 

 when leaving this small island. The Crows were numerous all 

 about the bay and would fiy to the nearest point of the main land, 

 but these Ravens steered for a wild tract of woodland on the far- 

 ther side of the bay which I afterwards learned was known to be 

 a haunt of the weird bird. During the following summer (1902) 

 I again heard the Raven's croak, several times, from the heavily 

 timbered ridges about the less frequented parts of Shelburne 

 Harbor. 



Some' northern members of the finch family were at home in 

 this evergreen wilderness ; birds which, until my visits to Nova 

 Scotia, I had never seen alive before. One of these was the 

 Pine Grosbeak. 



All that I had read and heard from those who had observed 

 the bird during its occasional winter wanderings to more southern 

 latitudes led me to believe that it was almost foolishly tame and 

 unsuspicious. In its breeding grounds, however, I found it just 

 the reverse. The bird was far oftener heard than seen, and always 

 appeared shy. The clear, loud whistling song would sound for 

 long distances over the woods and open savannas. Every little 

 while during the day one or more of these birds would be singing 

 from the top of some tall spruce or fir. After delivering its song 

 for some time the bird, when undisturbed, would suddenly fly 

 down into the dense cover of the woods, but if suspicious of an 

 intruder into its haunts it would frequently fly a long distance 

 from the spot. Like the Goldfinch, the Pine Siskin, the Cross- 

 bills and others of its tribe, the Pine Grosbeak often utters its 

 whistling notes while on the wing At first I used to think of this 

 song as resembling that of the Goldfinch, only of greater magni- 

 tude, but later I came to recognize a quality in it that was 



