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On some Canadian Birds.



Around the suburbs of Ottawa there were some Indigo birds,

a particular pair frequenting' some scrub, the little cock looked so

nice in his bright blue dress beside his slim brown mate. Purple

Finches were along the little creek that flows here, the male is

beautiful and quite a good singer, more purple than the European

Carpodacus, and many are kept in cages here in Canada.


A peculiarly attractive bird of the New World is the Night

Hawk. When first I saw them I mistook them for black Terns ;

they appear quite early in the evenings and at times in the day

during thunder showers: they have a particular fancy for the city

and feed over the chimney pots in company with Swifts.


Whip-Poor-Wills made most uncanny sounds after dark and

were very plentiful on the plains of Katabazna in Northern Quebec.

All these creatures used to collect round the Sheck which was near

a water hole, but their cries usually stopped before midnight.


In August I could observe some signs of return migration to

the South. Cedar Birds appeared in flocks and Purple Martins

lined the telegraph poles ; flocks of Bobolinks passed over with a

swift flight, Eed-winged Blackbirds were in quantities among the

reeds, perhaps the long continued drought shortened their stay in

Northern latitudes.


One day, as I strolled up a lane in Hull, one of the suburbs

of Ottawa, I came across a wooden hut; here, hung up, were many

trap cages with decoy birds, chiefly Goldfinches ( Astragalinus tristis )

and a few Purple Finches, so I enquired within for their owner.

An old lady answered the door, who proved to be the mother of the

bird-catcher, rlio was not within, so I sent for him. After some

time a wild-looking' youth appeared and I at once arranged for a

bird-catching expedition, but in the meantime started him to work.

Two days passed before I again re-visited the place ; on my return I

found he had trapped five Goldfinches, several Purple Finches and a

Bobolink.


We started off with call-birds and trap cages up a hot and

dusty lane, w T ay off' the main road. His traps he set on pailing

posts in a weed-covered common, chiefly thistles in seed and huge

clumps of Solidago, Golden-rod. Many of the weeds in Eastern

Canada are from the old country. One of the trap cages contained



