60 MousLEY, Birds of Hatley, Que. [j^n_ 



and a slight sprinkling of Hudsonian. Of the Canadian species 

 such characteristic ones as the White-throated Sparrow and Winter 

 Wren are getting very near their extreme southern breeding limits, 

 whilst of the Transition forms, Hatley apparently, lies outside the 

 regular breeding area of the Sora, Indigo Bunting, Red-breasted 

 Grosbeak and Cowbird, the latter of which until the present sum- 

 mer (1915) was almost unknown even as a transient visitor. 



In that charming book the " Birds of Maine" Mr. Ora W. Knight, 

 on page 507, speaking of the Myrtle Warbler says, " The scattered 

 flocks pass on leaving here and there a pair of mated birds, in many 

 instances individuals being found frequenting the very same locali- 

 ties from year to year under conditions which would almost 

 warrant the assumption that the very same individual birds had 

 returned to their summer homes." With regard to this most inter- 

 esting subject I will say that my five years' observations over a 

 restricted area (mentioned hereafter) have more than "almost 

 warranted" as the late Mr. Knight says, the assumption, they 

 ha^'e entirely convinced me of the fact that the very same birds 

 do come back year after year to the site endeared to them by the 

 previous year's associations. If this is not so how can the following 

 instances be lightly put on one side and explained away. In May, 

 1914, in a particular corner of the marsh I took a set of Swamp 

 Sparrow's eggs, of a very handsome type, differing from any other 

 set in a most marked degree. Visiting the same locality the 

 following year I flushed a bird from another set of eggs, almost 

 identical to those of the previous year. Again a set of Spotted 

 Sandpiper's was taken on May 20, 1912, the earliest set ever found, 

 and much below the average size, being in fact the smallest set I 

 have ever seen or can hear of, the average dimensions being 1.18X 

 .92 in. only. In the following year on the same side of the marsh 

 and not far from the other nest, I found on May 25 (also the earliest 

 date for that year) another set identical in size, 1.19 X .91 in., 

 shape and markings, to that of the previous year. Finally a set of 

 the White-throated Sparrow was taken in May, 1914, on the out- 

 skirts of a small damp wood, the birds building another nest almost 

 at once close by, under the drooping branch of a small cedar bush, 

 which I did not molest. 



Visiting this same bush the following year another nest was 



