THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 8 1 



scenery of the place, but their skins being in demand and the birds 

 being readily picked off by the rifle, they are now but seldom seen 

 in their former haunt. Gulls have also been numerous on the bay, 

 so long as it was open, their favorite resting place being the edge 

 of the ice where it meets the water. They are mostly Herring Gulls 

 with a few Kittywakes, but the great Black-backed and Ivory Gulls 

 are also there occasionally. Towards the evening, of a quiet dull day, 

 about the middle of March, the residents on the Beach were aroused 

 by the loud trumpeting of a flock of twenty swans, which came 

 up the lake and found rest in the sheltered waters of the bay. 

 That night the condition of every available gun was examined, and 

 a lively attack was expected in the morning, but the swans would not 

 admit of a near approach, and all got off in safety save one, which 

 fell before the rifle of Mr. Fillman. Nearly every season one or two 

 are seen about the same period of the year, but so large a number 

 as twenty had not before been observed. 



The past winter has been unlike any other on record for the 

 number and variety of northern birds which have been with us, and 

 also for the number of our summer residents which have remained 

 with us over the winter instead of going south as usual. This 

 can only be accounted for by the fact that in the far north the 

 weather was unusually severe, and the snow of more than average 

 depth, whereas in southern Ontario the season has been the mildest 

 on record. 



The feregoing is by no means a full list of the birds which 

 have spent the winter with us, but it may serve to show to what 

 extent the movements of the feathered tribes are affected by the 

 weather, and also how much there is even during the miserable 

 weather of a sloppy winter to interest those whose eyes are open to 

 observe the provision made for these wandering children of nature. 



