HAMILTON SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION 118 



mercury to 50 above zero, and the cold wave suddenly 

 returned, and on the i8th night until the 21st several degrees 

 below zero were indicated each night. The ice harvesters 

 reported on the 13th instant ice thirteen inches thick on the 

 creeks and ponds at the same time that correspondents in 

 Dakota described the ice on the lakelets and streams, in that 

 state, as being three feet in thickness in mid February. 



As to wild animal or bird life, one has not heard of or 

 noticed anything extraordinary. The usual numbers of snow 

 buntings frequented our fields almost daily after about the 

 20th of November, and have been, except with very brief 

 intervals, in daily evidence during the whole winter (to date). 

 The Pine Grosbeaks have been frequent visitors hereabout 

 during the past two months, and a flock of ten or twelve 

 have been seen in our garden since the present letter was 

 begun . 



These birds came and examined the dried stems and seed 

 capsules remaining on the flower beds, and also evinced fond 

 partiality for the leaf buds of Spirea Sorbifolia as well as for 

 the buds of the Sugar Maple. This penchant for bud-eating 

 resembles that of their congener, the European Bullfinch, 

 During the present month numerous instances of the winter- 

 ing of the large Meadow I^ark hereabouts have been noticed 

 by some of our neighbor farmers. Their plaintive notes have 

 occasionally been heard in the brief sunshine, periods of calm 

 days, and also the smaller horned L,arks have been almost 

 daily seen about our pastures and highways since their advent 

 in this country, about the 17th of January. These, as usual, 

 are frequently to be observed in small numbers hovering in 

 rear or near the flanks of the multitudinous flocks of Snow 

 Buntings. Although the two species do not mix or associate 

 closely, they seem on amicable terms, although seemingly 

 regarded as a sort of Ishmaelite — gypsy bird — by the real 

 boreal winter invaders of the white plumage. 



Big flocks of the diminutive Pine Siskins have, from 

 time to time (even on the most inclement windy daysj, been 

 seen seeking their food in the pine groves around one'? 



