I 2 Dwight, Summer Birds of Prince Edivard Island. | ,." n 



is sometimes heard breaking the stillness of the night, and only those who 

 have passed a night in the northern woods can know how profound this 

 stillness may be. The song has given to the bird many local names 

 wherever it occurs, one of the best known being 'Kennedy Bird.' I heard 

 a new version which credits him with saying 'Good Lord, pity me, pity 

 me, pity me.' When the young get on the wing, the song is less fre- 

 quently heard. The bird is known to the few French settlers of the island 

 as rossignol (nightingale). 



Spizella socialis. Chipping Sparrow. — Not a common species, and 

 only occasionally observed. 



Junco hyemalis. Slate-colored Junco. — Next to the Savanna Spar- 

 row this is probably the most abundant bird on the island. It is found 

 everywhere, — in dooryards, open fields, fern-clothed clearings, even deep 

 woods. Its nest is on the ground, preferably under something — the 

 bottom rail of a fence or a hole in some grassy bank. Young were just 

 beginning to fly June 23, and a week later nests with fresh eggs indicated 

 a second laying. Its local name is 'Bluebird,' a strange misnomer, even 

 though Sialia sialis does not occur. 



Melospiza fasciata. Song Sparrow. — Very abundant and generally 

 distributed. Mr. Bain states that some winter on the island. 



Melospiza georgiana. Swamp Sparrow. — Rather common in very 

 wet, bushy meadows, with alders here and there, or in open swamps of 

 limited area, such as occur along brooks in cleared country. 



Petrochelidon lunifrons. Cliff Swallow. — A common bird, locally 

 distributed, and nesting in colonies under the eaves of barns and houses. 



Chelidon erythrogaster. Barn Swallow. — Abundant and generally 

 distributed. 



Tachycineta bicolor. White-bellied Swallow. — Fairly abundant, 

 nesting in old Woodpecker holes in clearings, crevices about barns, and 

 the hollow ends of the rails composing the zigzag fences so common on 

 the island. The sudden disappearance of a Swallow as it alighted on a 

 fence was almost startling until I learned that in some deep hollow, de- 

 cayed out of the heart of an unsplit rail, was a cosy nest of grass and 

 feathers. It was impossible to dislodge the birds that were sometimes out 

 of arm's reach, but several nests examined the last week in June contained 

 young. I have never found this species nesting in such a location before. 



Clivicola riparia. Bank Swallow. — I perhaps do this species an in- 

 justice when I say that it is outnumbered by the Savanna Sparrow and 

 the Junco. I saw colonies of hundreds at several points along the coast, 

 and as every bluff is crowned by a layer of sand, and much of the coast 

 line is a continuous bluff, the Swallows have unrivalled opportunities 

 for nesting places. 



Ampelis cedrorum. Cedarbird. — Seen now and again, but not com- 

 mon. There is a remarkable similarity between a lisp of this species, a 

 certain note of the Robin, and one of the Hermit Thrush. 



Vireo olivaceus. Red-eyed Vireo. — A common and in a few localities 

 an abundant bird, here as elsewhere a tireless songster. It prefers decid" 

 uous trees, particularly large maples. 



