184 MousLEY, Birds of H alley, Quebec. [April 



adee flew down from a nearby tree and perched right on the end of the 

 barrels of my gun (which at the moment I was resting on my hip) where it 

 remained for a minute or so surveying me with evident interest and curiosity. 

 As regards the so called love note or nesting song a high whistled " Phe-be," 

 I can only say that 1 have heard the birds utter it during nearly every 

 month in the year, so that if it is a love note which I don't dispute, it is 

 certainly not peculiar to the nesting season alone, as some 1 believe imagine. 



115. Penthestes hudsonicus littoralis (Bryant). Acadian Chick- 

 adee.— Rare transient; April 20. Always on the lookout for this form 

 of the Chickadee it was not until the above date of the present year, 1915, 

 that I had the pleasm-e of making its acquaintance, on a fir clad slope at the 

 edge of a rather large and damp wood. There were only a pair of birds 

 which I followed about and watched for the best part of half an hour, 

 during which time they gave me many chances of thoroughly identifying 

 them. Their notes are certainly somewhat different and weaker than those 

 of the Black-capped Chickadee and it was this difference that first drew 

 my attention to them. Many times I visited the spot during the next few 

 weeks but never saw them again. Mr. L. M. Terrill writing in the 

 ' Ottawa Naturalist ', Vol. 17, 1903, gives an interesting account of a nest, 

 he found of the Hudsonian [presumably Acadian?] Chickadee at Robinson, 

 a village some 30 miles to the northeast of Hatley, so that it seems within 

 the bounds of possibility that it may be found breeding here also some day. 



116. Regulus satrapa satrapa (Lichtenstein). Golden-crowned 

 Kinglet. — Common transient; April 16 to 21; Sept. 17 to Nov. 28 

 (Dec. 25). The fall is the time when these elegant little birds are most 

 generally to be found in small flocks frequenting the tops of fir trees more 

 especially, from which they make sudden darts, returning to the tip of 

 some branch, where on quivering wings after the manner of a humming- 

 bird, they abstract some minute insect. At Robinson, a village thirty miles 

 to the northeast of Hatley, Mr. L. M. Terrill in December of 1908 and 1909 

 saw several flocks daily and says that apparently they are the most common 

 birds there at that season. The above date in December of the present 

 year, 1915, is for a pair of birds only. 



117. Regulus calendula calendula (Linna;us). Ruby-crowned 

 Kinglet. — Fairly common transient; May 2 to 13; Sept. 18 to Oct. 21. 

 This delicate and sober hued little gem is by no means as plentiful as the 

 previous one, and in my experience has oftener been seen nearer the ground 

 in thick undergrowth than in the tree tops. There is something fascinating 

 to me in the eye of this species, which no doubt owing to the whitish eye 

 ring, looks very large and expressive for such a small bird. 



118. Hylocichla fuscescens fuscescens (Stephens). Veery. — 

 Fairly common summer visitant; May 12 to Aug. 8. Average date of 

 arrival (for two years) May 13. Eggs: June 2 to 15. This is by no 

 means an abundant bird here, only five nests having been located during the 

 past two years, as against about three times this numljer of the Hermit 

 Thrush. Of the above five nests, all were placed as usual near the ground 



