1883.] McIlwraith 071 Winter Birds of Western Ontario. 14.-7 



one of the most restless birds I ever saw. You cannot depend 

 upon him to be in the same place two consecutive half seconds. 

 He runs like a Sanderling, and whenever he keeps his feet still 

 by accident, his wings are flirted in a way that shows his anxiety 

 to be off. Several are usually found together, and sometimes a 

 loose flock of a hundred or more is seen. They are very strong 

 on the wing, sometimes mounting rapidly for several hundred 

 feet, if suddenly startled, and after a few moments spent in circl- 

 ing like a Snipe, they drop again almost as suddenly as a shot, and 

 as if from the very clouds. They became scarce at Concepcion 

 during August, and by the loth of September none were to be 

 found there. At Azul, February i, 1881, they were very plenty 

 but in poor plumage, and we continued to see them in all suita- 

 ble places until our return to Buenos Aires early in April. 



Their note seemed to be only a sharp chirp. Of their breeding 

 habits 1 know nothing. 



i^To be cotitiiiued.) 



BIRD NOTES FROM WESTERN ONTARIO. 



BY T. MCILWRAITH. 



The winter of 1S82-83 will be remembered in Western Ontario 

 by those who are fond of observing the movements of our native 

 birds as the one in which the Pine Grosbeaks were so plenti- 

 ful. The visits of these northern strangers are bj' no means 

 regular ; sometimes a few pairs will be observed during January 

 or February, and again they will be absent altogether for several 

 years in succession, but on no previous occasion have they ever 

 appeared in such numbers or stayed so late in the season as dur- 

 ing the winter now drawing to a close. They were first observed 

 in the shrubberies in and around the city about the loth of January, 

 and almost simultaneously with their arrival here there appeared 

 notices in several country newspapers of the "arrival of flocks of 

 strange birds, mostly of a smoky grey colour, but sometimes 

 having a leader clad in glowing crimson." 



