Vol. XXXVII 



1919 



Mousley, Birds of Hatley, Quebec. 473 



still prevailed during the first few months of 1918 it hardly seemed 

 likely that I would obtain any early records, and yet how often 

 the unexpected happens. The last few days of 1917 had seen the 

 thermometer clown to as low as minus twenty-two degrees, with a 

 rise, however, in the New Year on January the second, to zero. On 

 the ninth of this month a Briinnich's Murre was picked up to the 

 south of the village in an exhausted condition, dying the next day. 

 This bird no doubt had been driven in by the easterly gales that 

 raged in the early part of December, as two others were obtained 

 (as already recorded) about the middle of that month at North 

 Hatley. It was mounted by Mr. Greer for its captor, Mr. Will 

 Hunter of Hatley, and weighed 1 lb. 6 oz., being in an emaciated 

 condition. From the ninth to the twenty-fifth no tiling was seen 

 except a few small flocks of Snow Buntings, but on the latter date 

 a Northern Shrike paid a visit to my garden, and I think took toll of 

 an English Sparrow. A few days previous to this or, to be precise, 

 on the twenty-second, I was looking over some birds at Mr. Greer's, 

 and had the pleasure of identifying a Ring-billed Gull which was 

 then in the flesh. The bird had been taken in a marsh adjoining 

 Lake Massawippi, and not so far from the village of the same name, 

 somewhere about the ninth of December, it having been driven 

 in also, no doubt, by one of the severe easterly gales already referred 

 to. The bird, which was to be mounted for Mr. E. H. English of 

 Massawippi, was a young one, apparently in the first winter plum- 

 age, being irregularly mottled and with other immature traces be- 

 sides. It has already been recorded in 'The Auk,' Vol. XXXV, 

 1918, No. 2, p. 241. 



Nothing further of interest occurred until February 25, when 

 the first Crows were heard, this date forming a record one, as my 

 previous earliest was March 1, 1915 and 1917. On the last day of 

 the month a large flock of Snow Buntings was observed, also two 

 Prairie Horned Larks, this date being just two days ahead of any 

 previous year. 



More than a week now elapsed before the first real surprise came 

 in the shape of a rosy male Purple Finch and three females. On 

 March the ninth, or nearly six weeks ahead of the previous earliest 

 record, April 19, 1916. The next arrival was a Robin on the twen- 

 tieth, and the day following a Bluebird and Song Sparrow, all of 



