24 

 THE BIRDS OF RENFREW COUNTY, ONT. 



By Rev. C. J. Young, M.A., (Renfrew.) 

 Having been a member of the 0. F. N. Club for several yeai s, and 

 always taking considerable interest in the vaiious pursuits and studies 

 the society has done so much to popularize, yet never until this evening^ 

 have I been able to be present at a meeting. I gather from the pro- 

 gramme which was sent to me, that evenings have been set apart during 

 the present winter for the discussion of various branches of natural his- 

 tory; and that on the present evening ornithology and conchology should 

 be the subjects under discussion. I will take the subject of ornithology. 

 To my mind there is no more delightful study than this. I have always 

 taken an interest in birds and their doings, from the times when I used 

 to admire the eggs strung on strings in the cottages of the village where 

 I was brought up in England, emptied of their contents through im- 

 mense holes at each end, and hung up regardless of size or species — to 

 as recent a date as the beginning of the present month, when I watched 

 two gray shrikes in pursuit of the common sparrow. To one fond of 

 nature, and nature's surroundings, ornithology lends a hand 

 in bringing him into the presence of some of nature's grandest handi 

 work, or leading him among the sublimest sylvan scenes. Not so many 

 years ago I spent a holiday with a relative, — I was not in T;he ministry 

 at that time — in hunting amid the recesses of Cairn Gorm in Inver- 

 nesshire, for the nest of the snow-bunting " Plectrophenax nivalis." We 

 had read somewhere that a few of these birds bred on or near the sum- 

 mit, and had determined to try to verify the statement. The weather 

 was cold and the season backward, when we started for the scene of our 

 search, though it was the beginning of June. It is scarcely necessary 

 to add that the immediate object in view was not attained and we did 

 not even see the birds we sought. But in another direction we gained 

 more than we dreamed of when we started, thus exemplifying my form- 

 er statement that ornithology lends a helping hand to a study of nature. 

 We reached the summit of that well known mountain, and delighted in 

 the view, which none except those who have been there or in similar 

 scenes can realize; we found specimens of the often sought for "Cairn 

 Gorm" stones and noted many plants. On our way down we encount- 



