214 Lewis, Winter Robins in Nova Scotia. [.April 



The question as to why these Robins were so commonly observed 

 in Nova Scotia last winter is one which at present does not seem to 

 be capable of definite answer, for too many of the possible contribu- 

 tory causes are unknown. Some efforts toward a solution of the 

 problem are, however, here submitted. 



In the first place, it would appear fair to presume that these 

 Robins were not, as was popularly supposed, misguided arrivals 

 from the south at an unusually early date. It seems probable that 

 they had remained in Nova Scotia, or in regions still further north, 

 from the time of the fall migration until the time when they were 

 seen here. The fact that few were seen between December 1 and 

 the middle of January is explainable by the supposition that during 

 that time they w r ere living in the deep woods, miles from any 

 human being except an occasional Indian or a gang of lumbermen, 

 and that they were then more widely scattered. In the woods at 

 that time large quantities of juniper berries and mountain ash 

 berries would be available for their food supply. 



Whether more Robins than usual remained in Nova Scotia in 

 this way last fall seems an open question. Mr. R. W. Tufts, of 

 Wolfville, N. S., in a letter dated February 13, 1918, which was 

 published in the Halifax "Morning Chronicle" of February 15, 

 gives it as his opinion that there was no unusual number of Robins 

 in the province last winter. He attributes the great number of 

 Robins seen in the province at that season solely to the fact that 

 the snowfall was heavier than usual, which, he says, covered the 

 juniper bushes which supplied the Robins with most of their usual 

 winter food, and so forced them to seek sustenance in the inhabited 

 areas of the province, where they were more easily observed. In 

 opposition to this theory it should be noted that the snowfall of 

 last winter, though heavy, was not of a record-breaking character, 

 while 1 am informed by Mi*. Harry Piers, Curator of the Nova 

 Scotia Provincial Museum, and a veteran Nova Scotian ornitholo- 

 gist, that the abundance of Robin observations during the winter 

 of 1917-18 is, so far as is shown by his records or memory, absolutely 

 without parallel. 1 have experienced some difficulty in obtaining 

 records of snowfall for years other than the more recent ones, but 

 the monthly snowfalls at Halifax for the winter of 1904-05, for 

 instance, compare with those of the winter of 1917-18 as follows. 



