Oct.-Dec. 1921. J 



The Canadiax Field-Naturalist 



141 



March 20 — Northern Shrike — one; Her- 

 ring Gull — one. 



March 22— Golden-eye Duck— two flocks. 



March 25 — Black Duck — three pains ; 

 Bittern — one ; Sparrow Hawk 

 — one; Flicker — one; Gold- 

 finch — 5 or 6 ; Tree Sparrow 

 — a number; Killdeer Plover — 

 7 seen and two nest excavations 

 found ; Bluebirds fairly well 

 distributed — 8 seen; a Crow's 

 nest was found almost complet- 

 ed, and Robins were found ex- 

 ceptionally abundant. 



March 26 — Rose-breasted Grosbeak — one 

 male (Mr. Brown) ; Cowbird — 

 one. 



March 27 — Goshawk — one ; Migrant Shri- 

 ke — two ; Vesper Sparrow — 

 one (Mr. Brown). 



Besides the unusual records enumerated 

 above there are two matters worthy of 

 particular mention — the unusual abun- 

 dance of Robins and Black Ducks. I as- 

 sume that Black Ducks are unusually 

 abundant this season because I saw th^-ee 

 pairs about some marshy, partly wooded 

 land, Avhere foi-merly it was cn<^tomary for 

 but one- pair to nest. It is an easy matter 

 to distinguish ducks that have arrived on 

 their nesting grounds. They are always 

 in pairs and the drake appears never to 

 let his spouse out of sight, or perhaps it is 

 the other way about. The individuals of a 

 pair fly in perfect 'step' and appear as a 

 unit. 



Possibly the consistently favourable 

 weather during the nesting season last 

 spring is partly responsible for this appa- 

 rent increase, and very probably the vigil- 

 ance of officers in enforcing observance of 

 the Migratory Birds Convention Act has 

 much to do with it. 



L. McI. Terrjll. 



A Pine Siskin Invasion. — In Cen- 

 tral Alberta, the Pine Siskin {Spi)ius 

 pinus) has generally been' considered an 

 irregular migrant, except in a few favor- 

 able localities where they remain to breed 

 in small numbers. As they are fre- 

 quenters of the coniferous woods, especial- 

 ly during the nesting season, tliose birds 

 are not commonly seen in the settled parts 

 of the country, the spruce, tamarack and 



jack pine not growing on the better soils 

 of the prairie 



Abourt the middle of June, this year, I 

 noticea nuiiiucrs of siskins flying over 

 C'amrose, and eventually fouiul them feed- 

 ing on dandalion seeds on tJie lawns and 

 boulevards. Their numbers increased 

 daily, and about a week after their first 

 api)earance I estimated that at least five 

 hundred of the birds weie making their 

 home in town. At almost any hour dur- 

 ing the day, large flocks could be seen 

 flying high in the air, whirling here and 

 ther^ in Redj PoU fasliion, sometimes 

 alighting on a vacant lot, feeding for a 

 while, and off again as suddenly as they 

 came. I have counted as many as one 

 hundred on the telephone wires between 

 two poles, which appeared to be favorite 

 resting places for the birds. 



The siskins' appearance this .summer 

 was not local by any means. During the 

 months of June, July and August, I mot- 

 ored several hundred miles, and found 

 them quite connnon in some, and exceeding- 

 ly common in many of tlie places through 

 which I passed. They were plentiful in 

 Edmonton, noticed all the way to Cal- 

 gary, and not nearly as many at Banff 

 and Lake Louise, where one would expect 

 to find them in greatest abundance. This 

 makes one ask if it is not possible that 

 they had left their natural haunts for 

 some reason. I also found them very 

 common at Vermilion, Tofield. Stettle'r 

 and Castor. At this date, September 

 15th, there are about one thousand birds 

 in Camrose, and they are now feeding 

 on the pig-weed seed. 



As all the points mentioned above (ex- 

 cept those in the mountains) are in the 

 park countiy of the prairie, where there 

 are no evergreens, save small patches along 

 the river bottoms, it seems strange that 

 these birds should have made this unusual 

 migration. As the siskin is an eariy 

 breeder, nesting in May, it is safe to as- 

 sume that the birds that have been on the 

 prairies since the middle of June were old 

 ones and the increase of the year. It 

 would be interesting to know if this un- 

 usual appearance of the siskin has oc- 

 curred over the whole prairie country and 

 tlie reason for this decided change in 

 habitat. 



F. L. Farley, Camrose, Alberta. 



