430 Fleming and Lloyd, Ontario Bird Notes. [juiy 



adversaries. This camp is now closed and the original birds 

 of the air may resume their travels in peace. 



The most important changes from an ornithological point of 

 view are those on the water-front. Ashbridge's Bay, once the 

 haunt of many rare species of shore-birds and water-fowl, is all 

 but converted into a cement-walled turning basin for freight 

 vessels, and large areas of the marsh have been filled and the 

 reclaimed section is being rapidly built up with factories. Even 

 a street-car line runs across a portion of it. 



Toronto Bay is no longer seriously polluted by sewage. In 

 1913 two interceptors were put in service which cross the city 

 from east to west and convey all but storm sewage to a Dis- 

 posal Plant at the north-east corner of what was once Ashbridge's 

 Bay. Here the sewage is sedimented, and the liquid portion car- 

 ried 2900 feet off shore into Lake Ontario by an outfall sewer. 

 The separated sludge is drained and air-dried in large open beds. 



This series of changes in the water-front has had and will con- 

 tinue to have a considerable influence on bird life. The harbor, 

 being free from sewage, provides a safe haven for water-fowl, for 

 they are protected there at all times. There is probably little 

 food there now, but there may be more as the water becomes purer. 



As little unsedimented sewage is emptied into the harbor or 

 lake the number of gulls must decrease as many depended on this 

 source of food especially in the winter. Through the field-glasses 

 gulls may be seen feeding over the point in Lake Ontario where 

 the outfall sewer discharges, so evidently enough solid material 

 escapes after sedimentation to provide food for some birds. 



The sludge beds at the sewage disposal plant provide food for 

 many waders. The sludge often swarms with the larvae of a fly 

 and with an annulid worm and fairly large flocks of shore-birds 

 stop there on migration. They are safe and inaccessible while on 

 these sewage beds, in fact, only an ardent ornithologist would 

 stay to observe them. Considering all these points we can be 

 sure that the marsh-birds, the waders, and the water-fowl will not 

 visit us in anything like their former numbers, and those that do 

 come, to the marsh particularly, will not remain long. 



Colymbus holboelli. Holbcell's Grebe. — One taken at Toronto 

 on March 5 and one on April 13, 1913, are early records, both in winter 

 plumage. — J. H. F. 



