The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



[Vol. XXXIV. 



while the advantages are a greater tendency on the 

 part of many forest birds to come into the open, and 

 to linger in orchards and gardens, even in the heart 

 of the city. 



This fact gives us at least one distinct and much 

 needed advantage. During the height of the spring 

 migration (April and May) there is a plentiful 

 supply of water in the shape of surface pools and 

 running streams, cind the weather is cool. During 

 the corresponding period of the fall migration 

 (August and September) the country is much drier; 

 few surface pools are found and the average tem- 

 perature is higher. 



I well remember one late summer's day, several 

 years ago, passing through a small wood and hearing 

 the call of some chickadees. As the chickadees 

 were moving in my direction I awaited them to see 

 what their travelling companions might be. Nature 

 lovers generally are well aware of the chickadee's 

 sociable nature during migration. Very soon I 

 heard faint tsips and tseeps, and saw the vanguard 

 of a flock of warblers and other birds. Instead 

 of flitting past in the tree tops, they dropped to the 

 ground about twenty-five feet away in a small glade 

 where I joined them and found the ground about a 

 small water hole literally covered with birds, all 

 pressing forward for a drink and a bath. Others 

 kept continually dropping to the ground and I soon 

 counted a dozen species with scarcely any trouble, 

 a contract that might have taken hours of observa- 

 tion under ordinary circumstances. 



I found that this was the only supply of water in 

 the vicinity and I was so impressed with the ad- 

 vantage of being enabled to view the birds from all 

 angles at close range that I went home, resolved to 

 build a bath in my garden. I merely dug out a 

 shallow basin beneath a spruce tree a few feet from 

 the dining-room window, and lined it with concrete. 

 Since then I have been enabled to watch birds and 

 dine at the same time. I must admit that it is 

 sometimes a source of uneasiness to members of my 

 family, alhough latterly some of them have become 

 so interested in watching, for instance, a robin hold- 

 ing the bath against all comers, that they, too, have 

 forgotten the more immediate purpose of the dining- 

 room. 



The study of migration is very exacting — pleasur- 

 ably so. If one is keen to identify all of the pass- 

 ing birds he is liable to be dubbed a crank. I am 

 constantly making observations from a car window, 

 often to the disgust of my travelling companion, who 

 may be in the midst of an anecdote. One cannot 

 always choose ornithologically inclined company, 

 and further one is loath to lose the psychological 

 moment for an observation that may never occur 

 again. Then there is the desire to give pleasure to 



another or rather to share the pleasure of your dis- 

 covery with another. Some weeks ago (Oct. 6) 

 while half-asleep about midnight, I became suddenly 

 alert at the repeated calls of a screech owl, coming 

 in through my open window. I was so overjoyed 

 that I immediately awakened my brother. On the 

 night of Oct. 1 4, about the same time, I could scarce 

 believe myself awake when I heard sch'wet, sch'rvei, 

 from the garden. Actually a saw-whet owl saw- 

 whetting right under my window. On this occasion 

 experienced warned me to restrain my enthusiasm 

 and I listened alone. With regard to the screech 

 owl, it seems to me that it is becoming more common 

 in this district ; that there is an apparent movement 

 from south to north. Previously I had seen it oc- 

 casionally, but this season I found ils nest once and 

 heard its notes on three occasions; once at St. Lam- 

 bert, once at Lacolle, and again near Chambly. I 

 have also heard other reports of its presence in other 

 localities near Montreal. I cannot imagine why 

 it was called screech owl — perhaps the original 

 namer had conjured some terrible apparition after 

 a bad fright and named it after his emotions. To 

 me it sounds a soft, tremulous whe-e-pou-ou-ou, 

 repeated at short intervals. 



When making the bath in the garden I thought, 

 perhaps selfishly, that if my neighbor's gardens had 

 no greater attractions than my own, in the matter of 

 food and protection, my garden would still have to 

 its credit a bird bath and drinking pool, which would 

 attract some of my neighbor's birds. This it has 

 done, and further, it has been the means of pro- 

 longing their stay. However, I did not carry my 

 selfishness to an extreme and have since induced 

 some of my neighbors to instal bird baths. As 

 previously stated, the great advantage of the bath 

 is that it brings the birds to the ground and enables 

 you to see distinctly the markings of the upper 

 plumage — an impossible feat when birds are in 

 the top foliage of trees. This is especially true of 

 wai biers. Often in the fall when the yellowing 

 leaves are drifting it is even difficult to say which 

 are leaves and which are warblers. Moreover, I 

 can safely say that it would be possible for me to 

 follow the fall migration of most of our small perch- 

 ing birds without leaving the vicinity of the bird 

 bath. I call it a bath instead of drinking pool, 

 because as a bath I count it a greater attraction, 

 as most birds can obtain sufficient water for drink- 

 ing purposes from the beads of dew found in early 

 morning on leaves and grass blades. As it would 

 take too much space to discuss the fall migration in 

 all of its phases I am going to speak more par- 

 ticularly of these garden visitors that can be ob- 

 served by anyone who has a yard with vegetation, 

 at a maximum cost of fifty cents and an hour's 



