10 DviiGHT, Summer Birds of Prince Edivard Island. fja'n. 



Empidonax flaviventris. Yellow-bkllikd Flycatchkk. — Found 

 only iit Tignisli atid in small miinhers. The divness of the otlier localities 

 visited would partly account for its absence. The scarcity of tiiis and the 

 followin«» species rather surprised me. 



Empidonax pusillus traillii. Traill's Flycatcher. — A few at 

 Tiynish in their favorite haunts, the alders, were the only ones met witli. 

 It is likely that both this species and the preceding are in some other 

 localities more abundant than my observations would indicate. 



Empidonax minimus. Lkast Flycatciii:i{.— A cheerful series of 

 'che-becs' greeted me one morning at Souris. It is reall\ i-asier to distin- 

 guish this bird from traillii hy its notes than by the bird in hand, but the 

 bird in hand is, unfortunately perhaps, a scientific necessity. No others 

 were seen. 



Cyanocitta cristata. Uluic Jay. — Not abundant, and only occasionally 

 met with. No Perisoreits canadensis were even heard of. 



rCorvuscorax principalis Ravex. — I was told that a pair of Ravens had 

 fonnerl\ nested for several years on the face of the clilVat East Point, and 

 while I think my informant could have made no mistake as to the species, 

 I hesitate about admitting a bird to the list on hearsay only.] 



Corvus americanus. American Crow.— Nowhere, in the breeding 

 season, have I ever seen Crows so abundant and so tame. They were 

 never out of sight or hearing, and they sit on the fences and 'caw' at vou 

 derisively as you ride by. Of course their numbers were augmenteii bv 

 young birds, and early in July they were beginning to flock, as indicated 

 by a gathering of nearly a hundred seen July 4. AtTignish there was a 

 roost in a large patch of woods, whither towards sundown and later 

 Crows were seen converging from all directions. In the woods a terrible 

 noise was kept up until it grew dark. The Crows tio not molest the 

 farmer to any great extent, as he raises no corn, but I was told thev kill 

 young chickens and pick out the eyes of new-born lambs. They daily 

 congregate for a feast in the fields where the refuse of the many lobster- 

 canning establishment'- is used as a fertilizer. 



Scolecophagus carolinus. Rusty Blackbird. — A flock of twenty or 

 more, largely young birds, near East Point July 7, were the only ones 

 seen I liad heard of their occurence elsewhere. 



Quiscalus quiscula aeneus. Bronzed Crackle. — A pair of these 

 birds in Prof. Earle's possession were the only ones he had ever seen, very 

 likely stragglers from the mainlantl. 



Carpodacus purpureus. Purple Finch. — Sparingly distributed, a 

 restless and roving species, and seen singly or in pairs. 



Loxia curvirostra minor, .\merican Crossbill. — Perhaps more 

 abundant than the following species, 1 i>t the flocks are so often made up 

 of birds of both species, and so much more frequently seen or heard flying 

 overhead rather than allowing a closer examination, that it is diflkult to 

 estimate tlieir numbers. At any rate both were occasionally seen in 

 flocks of old and young, sometimes one species predominating (usually 

 the flock was almost entirely made up of one species), sometiines the 



