120 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



[Vol. XXXIV. 



rose for throe months. There were several breaks 

 in the weather before the New Year, but by the 

 middle of January it became very severe, and the 

 thermometer showed 55 below zero for several days 

 towards the end of the month. 



The winter came on with such suddenness that 

 many birds must have perished, likely more from 

 want of food than from the terrible cold. On 

 November 4th, tree sparrows and juncos were very 

 plentiful, and seemed to be in an excited condition 

 of mind, being more restless than the chicadees that 

 were with them. On the 10th of the month some 

 boys brought me a Richardson's Owl that they had 

 taken from the limb of a small poplar, even he, 

 seemed to be chilled to the bone and did not resist 

 capture. Before Christmas the snow was 20 inches 

 deep on the level, and a month later I measured it 

 in the woods and found it to be over 30 inches. 



Late in January I happened to be at the stock- 

 yards one afternoon, and was very much surprised 

 to hear the note of a blackbird, and on looking 

 around saw a flock of eleven Rusty Blackbirds. 

 Most of them were feeding on a stack of oat sheaves, 

 while a few were sitting on the high fence that sur- 

 rounds the yards. On enquiry I was told that 

 they had been there since the first cold spell, and 

 that on fine days they generally made a flight out 

 to the neighboring farms, always returning before 

 evening. None of the men could say where the 

 birds spent the night, but thought they must have 

 crawled into the stacks or the many crannies around 

 the buildings. 



On several occasions after, I visited the yards to 

 see how the birds were wintering, and always found 

 them in the very best of spirits. On very cold days 

 they seemed to be occupied mostly in keeping their 

 feet covered from the frost, this was done by squat- 

 ting down and spreading out their feathers very 

 much like the way the Horned lark acts while on 

 the ground. Warm afternoons seemed to brighten 

 them up, and feeble attempts were made at chorus 

 singing, but not with the same vigor as is shown by 

 them in the fall before leaving for the South. At 

 this date (March 26th) the flock is seen daily flying 

 to various parts of the town in search of different 

 foods, and there are indications of their mating, six 

 are males and five females. Their plumage is com- 

 mencing to assume the lustre of spring birds. 



Now the question must arise, why have these 

 birds remained through such a long cold winter? 



Camrose is on the 53rd Meridian, nearly three 

 hundred miles north of the Montana and Dakota 

 lines. 



Did they know that this great distance separated 

 them from a more congenial clime, and would not 

 take the chance of a flight that might necessitate a 

 stop where feed and shelter were uncertain? Some- 

 thing told them they had remained too long last 

 fall, and that it would be best for them to accept the 

 hospitality of the stockyards, rather than make an 

 effort to cross several hundred miles of uncharted 

 snow covere 



d pic 



Frank L. Farley. 



A Unique Entomological Experience. — 

 While in camp at Lake Missanag, Ontario, during 

 September, I collected a specimen of Pedicia albi- 

 vittaia, a large Crane-fly with black markings on 

 the wings. I placed the specimen in the cyanide 

 bottle fully expecting that, after the usual manner 

 of Crane-flies, it would shed several of its long and 

 loosely-attached legs, and my anticipations were 

 fulfilled by its losing three of these appendages. I 

 removed it from the cyanide bottle, pinned it, and 

 proceeded to stick the three lost legs on with Le- 

 Page's glue. In this process, which was one of 

 some difficulty and demanded considerable accu- 

 racy of manipulation, one of the legs broke at the 

 tibio-femoral joint, but I succeeded in joining it 

 together again and attaching it to the body. 



Half an hour after I looked at the specimen to see 

 if all the appendages were still secure, when I ob- 

 served, to my intense astonishment, that the leg which 

 had been brof^en in two rvas "waving up and down. 

 None of the other appendages were moving and up- 

 on touching the abdomen the insect showed no 

 signs of life. This leg continued to wave about for 

 an hour or so, and early next morning it was still 

 moving, and continued to do so intermittently until 

 noon. 



The only explanation of this peculiar episode 

 which I can suggest is that some substance, possibly 

 acetic acid in the glue, acted on the muscles of tha 

 leg, causing them to contract, and the broken leg 

 moved because it had received a double dose of this 

 substance. 



A. Brooker Kluch. 



