Maivl). 1!)21. 



ThK ('ANAI)IAX KlKIiD-NATrKAI>lST. 



5!) 



frain beinjr cleop in tono and loii<r-con- 

 linned. 



The V^Cisjxn- Sparrow is cxtrcniely com- 

 mon, but is ex(MH'(l('d in numbei"s by the 

 Savanna Spai-row which is the most 

 abundant bird of the rojrion. The White- 

 l^iroated Sparrow is common in such 

 piece« of woodland as are left, tihis 

 being particularly the case in a damp 

 piece of forest near KerLsingrton and in 

 the woods on Curtain Island. The Son^ 

 Sparrow is common, the Chippintr Spar- 

 row rather scarce, and the Slate-coloured 

 Junco abundant:. 



Of the Swallows, the Tree Swallow is 

 the most abundant species, though the 

 Barn and tyhe Cliff Swallows are common 

 and many colonies of Bank Swallows nest 

 in the wil at tihe top of the cliffs on 

 Curtain I.sland and at other points along 

 the coast. 



The eomanonest .species of Warblere are 

 the Myrtle, Magnolia,. Yellow and Amer- 

 ican Red.stiart. A pair of Myrtles lived 

 in the wind-break in front of the North 

 Sihore House and the male was a con- 

 tinuous singei-. A pair of Yellow War- 

 blers had their nest in a gooseberry bu^^i 

 in the garden. Tt was compo.sed of dried 

 grass, pieces of twine and yarn, and bits 

 of biroh-bark, and lined with hair and a 

 few chicken feathers. When the female 

 was hunting material for her nest .she 

 frequented tIhe lawn and readily accepted 

 donations in titie .shape of yam or twijie. 

 When she way. seeking hairs with which 

 to line the nest, she seemed to find the 

 verandah the mast promising hunting- 

 ground, and finding a ihair caught in a 

 crevice, or on a splinter, s^ie pulled at it, 

 now from this direction, now from that, 

 swinging nmnd and i-pund a.s she tugged, 

 and usually succeeding in dislodging it. 

 The male took no pai-t in the construction 

 of tihe n(^it, nor in incubation, but bj-ought 

 insects to the fenuilc while she was sit- 

 ting. Three of the four eggs ihatc|ied 

 and the shells and the unhatched e^g 

 were removed from the nest. For the 

 first two days after llie young appeared 

 the female .spent most of her time brood- 

 ing. w)iile tihe male was busy foraging. 

 As he approached the nest he invariably 

 sang, and when the female heard him 

 .she usually slipped from the nest and 



went off to .secure a few inse<,'ts, .some- 

 times for herself, sometimes to give t<i 

 the nestlings on 'her return, w^iile the 

 male fed the nestlings. In the early 

 days of feeding whole insects were not 

 given to the young, but the insects were 

 pounded and swallowed by the male, then 

 regurgitated into the throats of the nest- 

 lings. 



The Mai-yland Yellowthroat and t;ie 

 Canadian Warbler were seen only in the 

 woods on Curtain Island. 



The Chickadee and the Acadian Chick- 

 adee are about equally common in the 

 pieces of woodland. 



The llerijiit Tliru.sh and the Olive- 

 backed Thrus/i were observed in the 

 woods on Curtain Islaiul and were heard 

 singing from the woods on some of the 

 other islands. 



The Robin is abundant, and three pairs 

 nested in the grounds on tihe North Shore 

 House. The songs of the three males 

 differed considerably in quality, and one 

 of them had a most characteristic refrain 

 in which the syllables '^ Rip-rip-ter-rrurr" 

 occurred very c(mspicuously and with 

 great frequency. 



A. Brooker Klugh. 



Prairie Warbler at Hamilton. Ont. 



On going into the garden on the 

 morning of May 12, 1920. to look for 

 migrating birds, I noticed an unfamiliar 

 Wood Warbler feeding in a thicket of 

 wild plum trees. I observed it carefully 

 for several minutes at a distance of 

 about twenty-five feet, with bright sun- 

 light behind me, using 6 X field-glasses. 

 As the bird was moving away. I was 

 unable to get a good view of the head 

 or nnder-parts, but could see that they 

 wove bright yellow marked with black. 

 Observation of the upper-parls was very 

 satisfactory, however, and I noted a 

 reddish, saildle-shaped area on the back, 

 which was olive-green. On consulting 

 P. A. Taverner's "Birds of Eastern 

 Canada", 1 identified the bird as a 

 Prairie Warbler (Dendroica discolor^. T 

 knew that the bird was not a conunon one; 

 but not until recent eonvei*satiou with 

 Messi-s. W. E. Saunders and H. F. Lewis 

 did T realize that it is rare enough \o 



