100 F1W^[ liJ.OMIDON TO SMOKY. 



t'rossbills were to be met with in small numbers 

 all through the region between Batldeck and In- 

 gonish. The first that I saw appeared in the air 

 over Baddeek River, just as I was driving a 

 horse across the iron bridge which spans the river 

 on the road to the Margaree. The wind was 

 blowing so hard that I felt some concern lest my 

 buggy should be tipped over ; but the crossbills, 

 with their usual appearance of having lost either 

 their wits, their way, or their mother, perched 

 upon the iron braces of the bridge directly over 

 our heads, and looked this way and that dis- 

 tractedly, with their feathers all blown wrong 

 side out. An hour or two later, when approach- 

 ing Middle River, I noticed a flock of blackbirds 

 in a small grove by the roadside. I got out and 

 entered the grove. Every bird in the flock of 

 sixteen seemed to be reciting blackbird poetry, 

 and that, too, in the sweetest voice which rusty 

 grackles are capable of making heard. Although, 

 on many other occasions, I saw representatives 

 of this species in various parts of Cape Breton, 

 I was unable to find any of its near kindred. 

 No purple grackles, redwings, cowbirds, bobo- 

 links, starlings, or orioles crossed my path ; yet 

 I saw much territory in which they might, for 

 all I could see, have been very happy, and in 

 which song, swamp, and savanna sparrows, Mary- 

 land yellow-throats, and similar birds appeared 

 to be established. 



