° ' 1919 J Mousley, Birds of Hatley, Quebec. 477 



numerous during the migration as last year, but I noted two or three 

 pairs breeding as against only one last year. Speaking of the 

 nesting of many of the Warblers, it seemed to me that the dates 

 were quite a week or ten days in advance of previous years, a 

 nest of the Black-throated Blue, for instance, containing much 

 incubated eggs this year on June the eleventh, whereas in 1916 a 

 nest found on June the nineteenth contained perfectly fresh ones. 



Black-billed Cuckoos were first noticed on the third near our 

 orchard, and I have seen and heard them oftener since than in 

 previous years, with the exception of 1912, when I found three 

 nests. That beautiful songster, the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, of 

 which I have only found one nest so far, certainly bred here again 

 this year, a singing male being located in a large wood throughout 

 the month of June, but its nest escaped detection. In this same 

 wood and period also, a male Scarlet Tanager poured forth his 

 fine notes, and added my own confirmation to that of Mr. Greer's 

 that at rare intervals it may be found breeding here also. The 

 status of the bird in these parts during the years 1836-39 must 

 have been very different from what it is today, for I find that Gosse 

 in his 'The Canadian Naturalist,' 1840 (referred to in the anno- 

 tated note on the Passenger Pigeon), speaks of having seen many 

 birds in the ploughed fields and pastures at the end of May, one 

 day in particular in his orchard there being scarcely a moment in 

 which three or four might not be seen within a few rods of each 

 other! As a present-day contrast to the above I may say I have 

 never seen more than two together, and my total record for the 

 past eight years consists of six birds only, five males and one 

 female. The Rose-breasted Grosbeak Gosse does not mention at 

 all, so probably it was quite as scarce then as it is now. The num- 

 ber of birds enumerated in the work, however, cannot have been 

 by any means complete, as from a list I have made there appear to 

 be only 67 species recorded as against my 168 at the present time. 

 The Baltimore Oriole apparently was an unknown bird here then, 

 for Gosse distinctly states that he was unacquainted with it; a 

 most striking fact, when we consider that today it is one of the 

 features of almost if not every village. Of the Warblers only two 

 species are spoken of with any degree of confidence, and strange to 

 say they are two of the rarer class, i. e. the Blackburnian and Bay- 



