144 Notes on Land Birds. 



bird when woimdecl is extremely bold and fierce, giving very bard 

 blows with its powerful bill. * 



Bomhycilla garrula — Vieill. — Black tbroated Waxwing or 

 Bobemian chatterer. This was the most abundant bird round 

 Montreal during the winter. From the beginning of January to 

 the 22nd April, large flocks were constantly flying round the city 

 frequently feeding in the gardens even in the very heart of the 

 town. They were however much more shy than the Pine Gros- 

 beaks, readily taking alarm, and were often difficult to approach. 

 Comparatively only a small portion were in really handsome 

 plumage, many specimens being entirely destitute of the waxlike 

 prolongations of the shafts of the quill feathers and the yellow 

 band across the wings, and having nothing but a narrow white 

 stripe on the wing feathers. I obtained specimens showing every 

 gradation from the bird of last year to the full plumaged male. 

 The mature females are nearly as handsome as the males. The 

 ovarium and eggs of an old female dissected by me on 22nd 

 April, were still very small. They fed on the berries of the 

 Mountain Ash and Cranberry, at first, and when these failed on 

 the dried fiuit of the common Thorn. It was a remarkable thing 

 to see this species feeding on the same trees frequented by its 

 almost sole congener the Cedar bird in the autumn. The one 

 exclusively a winter visitor the other as strictly a summer bird of 

 passage. I have not seen any more of this bird since the last 

 heavy fall of snow on 27th April. 



Sitta-Carolinensis — Linn. — White breasted Nuthatch. I shot 

 one specimen on 19th November, and saw several in the woods 

 on Nun's Island, on 6th February. 



Picus pubescens — Linn. — Downy Woodpecker. Tolerably 

 plentiful throughout the winter. Rather numerous in the woods 

 at Nun's Island in January. Capt. Macdonald, A. A. G., showed 

 me a remarkable variety which he shot there on 16th January. 

 It was a male and had a large olive coloured patch on the wing 

 coverts of each wing. 



Tetrao umhellus — Linn. Rather numerous all through the 

 winter on the Mountain, and in the swamps near the mile-end 

 road. It is curious to see the tracks of this bird on the snow, 

 round every small bush it has come to, and of which it has nipped 

 off all the buds it could reach. 



Spring arrival, April 13th, 



