56 Eifkig, Winter Birds of New Ontario. \j&n 



so many into these northern wilds and have made towns spring 

 up like mushrooms, the most noted of which is Cobalt, from which 

 the whole region sometimes receives the same name. Into this 

 district I had occasion to go in the middle of last March and to 

 stay about two weeks in the > rious places along the railroad. And 

 as bird lists from this locality are few and far between, especially 

 of winter birds, the few notes I made may not be amiss. Nor is 

 the list a very extended one, but the very paucity of birds tells its 

 own peculiar story. 



As I left Ottawa the first large flocks of Crows were piling in on 

 the fields from the south. Only fields having a decided southern 

 slope showed places free from snow. In most places it was still 

 rather deep, so the Crows were not entering a land of plenty. 

 At North Bay I saw only four newly arrived Crows. 



It may seem strange to call birds seen in the end of March winter 

 birds. But such they were. For the region north of North Bay 

 was to all intents and purposes still in the middle of winter. Only 

 the lengthening days and the intensity of the sun's rays made it 

 certain that the end of winter could not be far off. Otherwise 

 there was snow everywhere, none had melted so far; the rivers 

 and lakes were still used as highways for the teams hauling supplies 

 to the mines and lumber camps, as much as earlier in the winter. 



The first winter bird I saw was a Raven (Corvus corax princi- 

 palis) at Englehart, 138 miles north of North Bay. I was told 

 that several had been seen at Larder Lake, about 15 miles north- 

 east, all winter. The thermometer stood at 6° above zero in the 

 afternoon, during the night it must have been 10°-25° below. 

 The north wind was intensely cold. Right in the path of its icy 

 blasts a bunch of jolly Chickadees (Parus atricapillus) were gam- 

 boling in some pines, singing their soft, Peabody. 



At Brentha P. O., 5 miles west of Heaslip station — most of 

 these names are not yet on maps - — I had a unique experience 

 with a Canada Jay (Perisoreus canadensis). A Swiss settler told 

 me, that near his little primitive cabin, that he had built for himself 

 in the wilderness, was a 'meat bird,' which would come to him 

 when called and eat out of his hand. I said, I would come next 

 morning and take its picture. He said, it perhaps would not come 

 when seeing a stranger there or not stay on his hand long enough. 



