154 The Ottawa Naturalist. [November 



only one I saw on the Islands), and amongst the spruce trees 

 found several unoccupied nests, one of which 1 took to be a nest 

 of the pine grosbeak, containing pieces of light coloured, egg- 

 shell. Robins were num.erous, and I saw a nest with three eggs 

 in, and a nest of the fox-sparrow in the dense growth, placed on the 

 top of a stump about three feet above the ground, with two 

 young ones covered with black down, and hatched about a day. 



July 4th was a fine bright day, the excessive heat which 

 prevailed at this time in Ontario and parts of Quebec had not 

 yet reached the Magdalen Islands. I watched some sand- 

 swallows near the harbour. 



The following day I spent in the spruce woods, and met 

 with several interesting birds, amongst them a fox-sparrow that 

 had a nest with three young ones in a thick fir-tree three feet 

 from the ground. I met with a pair of blue-jays that were very 

 noisy, and two golden-crested wrens. Also another Hudsonian 

 tit's nest with four young ones, whose nest was located in a dead 

 stump, built under precisely the same conditions as the first one 

 found. The eggs must have been fresh early in June. 



July 5th brought my visit to the Magdalen Islands to a 

 close, and I took the steamer for Pictou, N.S., having spent 

 three weeks very pleasantly on the Islands. Warm weather 

 reached the Islands to-day. 



Certain birdswere foundtobe quite numerous,but some of the 

 varieties 1 expected to find, were not meet with. It is a very 

 difficult matter to find the nests amongst the dense growth of 

 spruce and fir. If a person fond of ornithology spent two or 

 three years on the Islands, he could probably make a good col- 

 lection ; in a few weeks not very much can be done. 



Of the 61 species met with, I was only able to locate nests of 

 23 of them ; while in all probability 43 out of the 61 regularly 

 breed, as well as a few other warblers and one sparrow, which I 

 did not identify. The grosbeaks breed early. On the morning 



