28 The Ottawa Naturalist. 



On Ash Wednesday, passing, on snowshoes, through a 

 grove of cedars, in Ottawa East, I was puzzled to know the 

 meaning of an odd-looking trail which was found in a number 

 of places. Forming a continuous furrow about I ^ inch, wide 

 and almost as deep, it was apparently the track of some small 

 rodent though the loot-marks could not be distinctly seen in 

 the light snow. It seemed, however, to come from nowhere and 

 lead to nowhere, but lay in separate patches of redoubling 

 and zig-zagging as intricate as a labyrinthine puzzle. At 

 last, passing round a clump of trees, we flushed a pine 

 grosbeak in the act of tracing one of these mysterious patterns 

 as he gleaned from the surface of the snow the scattered seeds 

 which the last storm had shaken from the cedar trees. As soon 

 as one knew what it meant, it was easy to detect the mark of 

 the tips of the wings on both sides of the trail, where at intervals 

 he had taken a short flight, whenever the snow was too light to 

 sustain his weight. 



A small flock of American goldfinches in their modest winter 

 plumage was seen on 14th February. 



The Northern shrike has become a very regular winter 

 resident with us, much to the discomfiture of the flocks of house 

 sparrows. He is our only winter songster and though not of 

 the highest order, the carol he pours forth to the first bright sun- 

 shine in February is a pleasing earnest of the songs of summer. 



Snowflakes, Black-cap chickadees. Downy woodpeckers 

 and Whitebreasted nuthatches are the only other birds observed 

 this season, none of the rarer winter visitants having been 

 reported. A, G. K. 



Royal Society of Canada. — May Meeting, i8g6, Ottawa. 

 — The Fifteenth General Meeting of the Royal Society of 

 Canada will be held in the Normal School Building, Ottawa, 

 during the week commencing Tuesday, 19th May next. Titles 

 and short abstracts of papers must be forwarded to the Secretary, 

 at Ottawa, at least by the first of May. Abstracts must be type- 

 written when possible. Fellows who intend to be present should 

 notify the Secretary in the first week of May. 



The Ottawa Field-Naturalist's Club will, it is expected, be 

 duly represented on this as on previous occasions. 



