January, 1922. 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



13 



Sparrow Hawk: Falco sparverius. A second 

 winter record for this species was made on Feb- 

 ruary 17th, 1919. 



Lewis' Woodpecker: Asyndesmus lewisi. 

 During the winter of 1920-21 two of these birds 

 were seen near Kelowna by several persons who 

 described them to me. I had seen one in that 

 locality on October 23rd, 1920^a notably late 

 record as they usually leave during the last week 

 of August. 



Hoyt's Horned Lark: Otocoris alpestris 

 hoyti. On December 5th, 1918, 1 took an example 

 of this race from amongst a large flock of ardicola. 

 This specimen is now in the Brooks collection. 



Rusty Blackbird: Euphagus carolinus. On 

 December 5th, 1918, three Rusty Blackbirds 

 accompanied by two Killdeer were seen on the 

 lake shore at Okanagan Landing, and two speci- 

 mens were taken, establishing a new record for 

 the Okanagan Valley. Two other specimens were 

 taken on November 13th, 1919. Prior to this 

 the Rusty Blackbird had been recorded from the 

 following localities in British Columbia, namely 

 Edgewood, Metlakatla and Atlin. In a discussion 

 of the status of this species in British Columbia 

 with Mr. H. S. Swarth, he informed me that he 

 found them breeding commonly near Hazelton 

 during the past summer (1921). 



Brewer's Blackbird: Euphagus cyanocephalus 

 In my former list, I stated that large numbers of 

 Brewer's Blackbirds wintered in the City of 

 Kelowna during 1912-13, but that none had been 

 seen north of this. During the winter of 1917-18 

 a flock of twenty remained in the creek bottom 

 between Okanagan Landing and Vernon. They 

 were frequently seen following the rooting opera- 

 tions of a drove of pigs which were ranging over 

 some newly ploughed land. 



Cassin's Purple Finch: Carpodacus cassini. 

 Prior to 1917, winter records for this species were 

 uncommon, but since then their appearance has 

 been more regular. During the winter of 1920-21 



they were quite common, a flock of forty being 

 seen on January 24th. 



White-winged Crossbill: Loxia leucoptera. 

 Specimens were taken on November 29th, 1919, 

 at Okanagan Landing. These were associated 

 with bands of American Crossbills which are 

 much more numerous and of more frequent 

 occurrence than leucoptera. 



Redpoll: Acanthis linaria linaria. Formerly 

 an abundant winter resident arriving early in 

 November and remaining until the latter part of 

 March. None were seen after the winter of 

 1916-17 until the present year (1921), when a 

 single bird was noted amongst a flock of Juncos 

 on December 19th. On the following day a 

 flock of twelve were seen and these are still in the 

 vicinity at the time of writing (December 22nd, 

 1921). 



Cedar Waxwing: Bombycilla cedrorum. Two 

 Cedar Waxwings were seen on numerous occasions 

 from December 28th, 1920, until the following 

 spring. This record is notable in that this species 

 leaves early in September and is one of the last 

 migrants to arrive in the Spring. 



Rocky Mountain Creeper: Certhia familiaris 

 montana. 



Sierra Creeper: Certhia familiaris zelotes. . 



Apparently these two races occur in equal 

 proportion during the winter. Zelotes as com- 

 pared with montana is considerably smaller, 

 decidedly more brownish on the upper parts and 

 with a relatively shorter bill. 



I am indebted to Dr. Louis B. Bishop for the 

 identification of specimens. 



Chestnut-backed Chickadee: Penthestes ru- 

 fescens rufescens. A small band was found near 

 Rollings Lake, twenty miles northeast of Vernon 

 in December, 1918. 



Western Bluebird: Siala mexicana occiden- 

 talis. This species is becoming a regular winter 

 resident; a small flock has been seen each year 

 since first recorded in 1916. 



ORNITHOLOGICAL OCCURRENCES AT TORONTO, ONTARIO, JANUARY, 1922 



By Stuart L. Thompson. 



Toronto and the surrounding country has seen 

 several unusual records of bird life this winter. 

 The weather, although cold at times, was often 

 very mild, the temperature going above freezing 

 and there being an unusual lack of snow. The 

 city streets have been quite bare and many hill- 

 sides throughout the country still show the frozen 

 earth and dead leaves of the fall. This lack of 

 snow on certain hillsides is not due to its having 



melted so much as to the fact that there have been 

 several days of strong winds which tended to 

 drift the snow onto some places more than others. 

 No days warm enough to cause buds to burst have 

 occurred and rainy days have been very few 

 The Don and Humber Rivers have both been 

 solidly .frozen over except in swifter parts and 

 Toronto Bay has been more or less open in 

 patches. 



