VolXXVII-j EiFRiG, Rare Winter Birds at Ottawa. 53 



A WINTER OF RARE BIRDS AT OTTAWA, ONTARIO. 



BY G. EIFRIG. 



The winter of 1908-9 will long be a memorable one to ornitholo- 

 gists of Ottawa and vicinity. In the long winters of this section 

 birds are usually conspicuous only by their absence, save when an 

 incursion of Pine Grosbeaks, Canada Jays or Snowy Owls occurs 

 which is not too often. But during last winter birds were about, 

 not only in greater number of individuals than before, but also in 

 greater variety, and these various species contained some of the 

 rarest of our North American birds. Nor did these usually very 

 restless sojourners from the far north and Avest only afford us a 

 passing glimpse of their interesting selves, but they lingered for an 

 unheard-of length of time. Thus they afforded one an excellent 

 chance for observing them and their habits, etc., better than usually 

 falls to the lot of bird observers. Therefore the writer considers 

 the event important enough to chronicle it in 'The Auk.' 



Already in the fall there were auguries, that led one to expect 

 things "to happen" in the bird line during the winter. Many 

 flocks of White-winged Crossbills (Loxia leucoptera) were whirling 

 over the fields and fallows around the city — the first time in six 

 years that they were observed by me. November 2 the first King 

 Eiders {Somateria spectabilis) that had ever been taken here, were 

 secured (Auk, XXVI, 59), an occurrence which was repeated on 

 December 2 and 3, only that greater numbers came. The Brtin- 

 nich's Murre (Uria lomvia) which had up to the time of writing 

 the article that appeared in the January number of the current 

 volume of 'The Auk' not showed themselves, did so to the number 

 of about 500 on December 19, and five more the next day, three of 

 which I received from a gunner. In this connection I would correct 

 an erroneous impression I may have conveyed by the italicizing in 

 the article referred to above the word "eaten," conveying the 

 meaning, which I really held at that time, that the flesh of the TJ. 

 lomvia must be very rank, therefore poor eating, implying thereby 

 that the French-Canadian rivermen who eat them, must either have 

 a ravenous apj^etite or very poor taste for what is good eating and 

 what not. To determine for myself, I had one of those three 



