Europe where they are also found in great numbers in winter, they 

 go by the name, among the Swedes, of " JUwarsfogel" or bad 

 weather birds ! 



The time of their arrival here varies with the character of the 

 weather. In very cold wintei-s I liave seen them as early as 10th 

 and 15tb of December, and I have known them to remain in some 

 seasons as late as the first week in Marclu They are said to make 

 their appearance in Hudson's Bay at the end of March or early in 

 April remaining there for a few weeks and then wending their way 

 still further north to breed on tlie shores ot Greenland or even 

 desolate Spitzbergen ! As the food of these V>irds consists almost 

 entirely of seeds of various wild plants, tlieir means- of subsistence 

 amidst the deep snows of winter would seem to be precarious enough. 

 Nevertheless they become very fat, and in the Province of Quebec, 

 where they are found in much greater numbers than here, they are 

 slaughtered most mercilessly for the market, and among our French 

 friends " snowbirds on toast," I am sorry to say, form a standing 

 entree in the bill of fare of a fashionable dinnei-. 



The snowy owl [Ni/ctea iScandinca), one of the most beautiful of 

 o\ir I'apacious birds, is anotlier winter visitor, at one time very com- 

 mon even in this neigliboihood. I have seen them in considerable 

 numbers on the Island on the other side of our Toronto Bay in the 

 months of December and January. Nothing can exceed the exqui- 

 site softness and beauty of their thick, warm plumage, which enables 

 them to bid defiance to the severest cold, and as they are not over- 

 nice in their choice of food, rats, mice, tis-h and small birds, all seem- 

 ing to come alike, they ai-e in no (liin;^fei' o; starving even in the most 

 wintry weather. 



Dui'ing this and the next month when strolling through the park 

 or even through some of oui streets, where bordered by ti'ees or 

 gardens, the attention of the passi r-by may sometimes be attracted 

 by the very sweet and melodious rail notea of two or three handsome 

 birds, busily engaged in feeding upon the tender buds of a maple or 

 stripping off the berries of the uiuuntuin ash, and it his curiosity 

 induces him to approach them more closely (and they are often ex- 

 tremely tame and fearless) he cannot but be struck with the beauty 

 of the plumage of some of the nuuUier, the head and upper part of 

 the breast and back of the male loirils more especially being beauti- 

 fully marked with delicate sliades of orange and crimson. These 



birds 

 in so 

 numl 

 turinj 

 towns 

 buds 

 Du 



