In North-West Canada. 157 



trifling enlargement of the orifice, or straining of the fabric in 

 the effort to send the finger to the bottom of the nest, is quite 

 sufficient to cause the nest to be deserted. The number of 

 eggs laid is from six to eight. They are clear white, with a 

 few fine specks of brown at the larger end. This little bird 

 has a powerful song, and I have heard it at Lome Park, on the 

 shore of Lake Ontario, where the bird is a summer resident. 

 This bird has a habit of winding in and out amongst the roots 

 or branches of a fallen tree, singing lustily all the while, and 

 when I hear its song I can fancy I am again in Yorkshire, 

 England, where the birds are common. 



Some American ornithologists consider the winter wren, 

 brown creeper, golden-crowned kinglet, short-eared owl, marsh 

 hawk, and many other species, distinct varieties of the Euro- 

 pean forms ; but in many cases the differences are so slight that 

 five out of six ornithologists of ordinary acuteness and experi- 

 ence are unable to satisfactorily distinguish any difference 

 between American and European examples. It is a question 

 if there is anything to be gained by naming races distinguish- 

 able only by experts, aided by a large amount of specimens. 



Of late years there has been a tendency to become too exact, 

 and forms are being named which, five years ago, would have 

 been considered too slightly differentiated to require recogni- 

 tion. Take the shore lark for instance ; how this bird is being 

 sub-divided. At the present time there are supposed to be 

 close upon a dozen varieties in North America. The shore 

 lark of Europe differs as much in plumage as the American 

 bird. Those which breed in southern Europe differ somewhat 

 from others which nest in northern Europe and Lapland, 

 climatic influences making a difference in their plumage, but 

 European ornithologists apparently do not consider this suf- 

 ficient grounds for naming one the northern shore lark, and 

 the other the southern ; they evidently consider there is noth- 

 ing to be gained by so much sub-dividing and splitting, and 

 it is a question whether American ornithologists are not becom- 

 ing too exact, and if we go on sub-dividing and sub-dividing it 

 will soon become a troublesome question as to what is a 

 species. 



