on some Canadian Birds.



351



me of our genus Philoscopus, only of course they are of very bright

colouring as most of the New World Warblers are. They spend the

winter in the Southern States and migrate northward in April and

May. I spent some time at the Experimental Farm at Ottawa, and

there I found the well-kept lawns quite a paradise for bird life.

Quantities of Robins < Turdus migratorius ) in search of worms ;

Baltimore Orioles feeding on the berries of the Mountain Ash tree, as

well as crowds of other birds such as Cedar Birds, Mock Thrushes,

Flickers, &c.


The Baltimore Oriole feeds in quite a peculiar way, extracting

the juice of the berries with its hill without removing them from

the stalk. They are hard birds to approach and dodge away at the

back of the trees ; the males look gorgeous in their liveries of black

and orange. There is a certain tree at the apiary where at least a

dozen of their pensile nests can be seen ; these are so well con¬

structed that they weather for years the winter storms. Another

beautiful bird that I just got a glimpse of was the Rose-breasted

Grosbeak. This species keeps to the deep solitude of the woods,

the black and white with the rose colour makes a great contrast

against the green of the trees, but once they know they are seen

they mysteriously vanish into the thickets. These birds were at

one time imported into the London market, but have disappeared of

later year since the exportation of birds has been stopped from the

United States.


I noticed the King Bird, plentiful everywhere on posts and

palings and wire fences, flying down to the ground and catching

passing insects. It is quite a graceful bird, but its beautiful golden

crest is not visible except when held in the hand and the feathers of

the head set apart, for instead of a raised crest like most varieties of

birds it is in a hollow on the crown. I have kept its allied species

the Fork-tailed Tyrant (Milvus turanus) in captivity. The bird I

had in my possession was from Trinidad. All these Tyrants are

bullies in an aviary : here I saw them follow in pursuit of Hawks

and Crows or any of the large birds that may intrude into their

domain. I saw one on the plains of Katabazna, Quebec province,

beat a Hawk until I lost sight of it, stooping down upon it making

the Hawk’s feathers fly.



