10 OBSERVATIONS ON CANADIAN BIRDS. 
back as it was, and set aside till a more favorable opportunity occurred. 
While this state of matters prevailed, the birds must have been little 
disturbed, and would, as a natural consequence, congregate in greater 
numbers, and making due allowance for the habit of veteran sports- 
men exaggerating what happened in their young days, there can be 
no reasonable doubt, that Burlington Bay has long been a favorite 
resting place for the vast flocks of Ducks, Geese, and Swans, which 
periodically pass to and from their great nursery at the north, but — 
which of late years occur at more uncertain periods, and in greatly 
reduced numbers. A moment’s reflection will point to the causes 
which have produced the changes referred to, foremost of which is, 
no doubt the great amount of traffic which is now carried on with 
steam and sailing vessels during the summer season, besides which, 
we have on the one side of the Bay an establishment for making 
gunpowder, and on the other a city with a population of 25,000 in- 
habitants, among whom are a fair proportion of amateur sportsmen ; 
these, though they may not much reduce the number of the birds, 
yet disturb them at their feeding grounds, and have driven them to seek 
for greater seclusion, among the extensive flats near Chatham, and 
along the river St. Clair. . 
Among the land birds, similar causes have been at work to produce 
changes in the habitats of different species. We are told that before 
the heavy timber was cut down, and the girdled trees were yet standing 
thickly im the cornfields, woodpeckers, of different sorts, were much 
more numerous than at present, the large black log cock being often 
seen, and the strokes of his chisel frequently heard reverberating 
through the woods. I am not aware of this species being seen in our 
neighbourhood for some time, the last specimen having been brought 
to the market by a farmer about five years ago as a great rarity; 
they are now found in Canada to the north and west of us, and 
throughout the state of Michigan. 
As the dense forest became broken up, and the cultivated fields 
appeared, a new class of birds took the place of those which had left; 
no sooner had the early settler raised his log house and planted his 
fruit trees, than he was visited by the Cat bird, whose great delight 
seems to be to nestle near a log-house on the edge of a clearing; the 
merry jingling song of the Bob-o-link was also heard along the 
fences, and the Blue birds, who delight in the society of man, found 
a nesting place in the new settlement ; several species of warblers also 
