134 OBSERVATIONS ON CANADIAN BIRDS. 
jerking themselves round to the off side of the branch when observed, 
or again startling the inmates of our frame dwellings, by rattling 
loudly on the deeaying boards. 
A very beautiful species of this family is the Red Headed Wood- 
pecker, whieh has been remarked by those who are observant of our 
native birds, to be less common in this district than formerly. This 
can only be accounted for by the removal of the heavy deeaying 
timber which forms the nursery of its favourite insect food, and as 
the country gets more under cultivation, we may look forward to the 
time when it will only pay us a passing visit on its way to and from 
the woody regions to the north of us. 
The least common species of this class which I have observed is the 
Aretie three-toed Wocdpecker. Wilson does not appear to have met 
with it al], and Audubon mentions the northern part of the State of 
New York, as the southern limit of its migration ; it resembles the 
spotted woodpeckers in size and manners, but differs from them in 
colour, and in wanting the hind toe. Why one class of these birds 
should have four toes, and another, similar to it in habits should 
have only three, we are at a loss to determine. I may remark, how- 
ever, that the three-toed species belongs exclusively to the north, 
being seldom found among deciduous trees, and I have no doubt 
that a careful examination of the feet of this bird, and their mode of 
application to the bark of the pine, would give a satisfactory explana- 
tion of the seeming defect. 
Passing the Pigeons and the Grouse, which are equally interesting to 
the sportsman and the naturalist, we come to the Waders and Swimmers. 
Here my remarks will be general, as the haunts of these birds being 
beyond the reach of morning excursions I cannot say much from 
personal observation. 
Of the first division of this group, which includes the Plovers, 
Sand-pipers, Curlews, &c., little can be said, except that they visit the 
sandy shores of Burlington Beach in considerable numbers every 
spring and fall, when on their migratory course to and from their 
summer residence in the north. In spring these visits are usually made 
during the month of May, occasionally the flocks remain for a day or 
two, but more frequently they move off after a rest of only a few hours, 
and are succeeded by others bound on the same journey. By the 
first of June they have all disappeared except the little Spotted Sand- 
