7'2- The Ottawa Natukast. 



commonly severe weather to seek their prey in barns and barn- 

 yards, or by hearing their weird voices from the woods in 

 unsettled weather. This season I have seen or heard of none. 



The birds are very late in arriving this spring, 1 saw a robin 

 for the first time on the second of this month. There were one 

 or two song-sparrows to be seen and heard a little earlier than 

 this, but as there had been at least one in the neighbourhood all 

 winter, I could not feel certain that they were new arrivals. 



This is the first season I can remember of that there have 

 been no shore-larKs to be seen — or at least when I have been 

 able to see or hear of any. A. C. Tyndall. 



Cedar Birds Eating Apple Blossoms. Ampelis cedrorum 

 (Vieill.). Two specimens of this pretty little bird were received 

 yesterday from Mr. J. P. Jones. Mr. Jones says that he noticed 

 about a dozen of them busily picking off apple blossoms, which 

 they succeeded in doing very rapidly. An examination of the 

 crop of one of them showed it to be tightly packed with petals 

 and stamens of apple blossoms, though the smaller and less con- 

 spicuous pistils were not discovered. I find that Cook says the 

 flowers of fruit trees, notably apples and cherries, are a common 

 food of this bird. Any injury wrought in this way is probably 

 more than counterbalanced by the large number of noxious in- 

 sects it destroys. J. Craig. 



PORZANA Novaboracense. — On the 22nd October, 1895, 

 I shot a small Yellow-rail in a marsh some twenty-four miles from 

 the city. This is the first record of a specimen of this species 

 obtained in this vicinity. GeorGE R. White, 



Leader in Ornithology. 



New Members. —During the past month the following 

 persons have been enrolled upon the membership book of our 

 Club : — Charles Stevenson, Esq., Montreal ; William H. Smith, 

 R.N.R., Halifax, N.S. ; Miss E. Williams, Ottawa ; Miss G. Han- 

 nington. New Edinburgh ; W. J. Barrett, Esq., Ottawa ; Dr. 

 Beeman, Perth, Ont. ; Miss L. Mathews, Ottawa ; Miss Helen N. 

 Bell, Ottawa. 



