33 



rather bombastically called " the grand tour," and for that purpose let 

 U3 select, say, the 29th of April. Your imaginations will have to be 

 early risers, for we are to start at 5 a.m., and even then the birds are 

 ahead of us, for at ten minutes before that hour, while waiting for the 

 start, a tiny Ruby-crowned Kinglet, hopping from branch to branch of a 

 balsam fir, announces to the world at large, in one of the happiest 

 little songs in nature, that h© is taking his breakfast, and enjoying i^ 

 too. A Black and White Warbler, creeping up the trunk of a cedar, is 

 also up for the day, and catching, if not the early worm, at least some- 

 thing as toothsome to him. We go down the railway track, listening, 

 by the way, to the White-throats at their matins, and, at the Rideau 

 Bridge, we see first one, then a pair, of ducks, flying up the river. 

 Instantly we level our glasses at them, but their speed is too great for 

 such inexperienced shots, and "not identified " goes down in our note- 

 books. We make our way to Clarke's bush, which stands on the high 

 ground to the South of the Bideau. Here, at the edge of the woods, 

 we bring down our first Savanna Sparrow, a species which we find 

 later in the summer to be tolerably common in the meadows and 

 pastures, and here too we see, buc alas ! do not hear, our first Hermit 

 Thrush. The woods are fairly I'inging with the morning drum-taps of 

 the Downy Woodpeckei', the^loud rattling call of the Flicker, and the 

 incessant chatter and screech of^Rusty, and Red-winged Blackbirds. As 

 we proceed through the woods towards Billings' Bridge, we take time to 

 look down as well as up, and find that the hepaticas and adderstongues 

 have made the brown carpet ^_of leaves beautiful, with their delicate 

 blossoms, and that the buds of the wake-robins, and red trilliums are 

 almost ready to open. In a piece of poplar swamp, we come upon 

 the JVIyrtle Warblers, with their yellow crowns, and shoulder 

 knots, hopping from branch to branch, catching the insects 

 attracted by the blossoms of these trees. Then we come 

 out into the open, and, in a wet pasture, we start up, 

 (or should I say " flush ]") a pair of Wilson's Snipe, at which we have 

 several good shots with our glasses, as we follow them from one corner 

 to another of the field, which they seem loth to quit, thus getting a 

 very fair inv^entory of their markings. We come out at Bi11ings> 

 Bridge, and follow the road up the South side of the river, till we cross 



