38 



CHAPTER IX. 



N January 17 I visited again the woods 

 around Melville Island, but saw very 

 few birds beyond several " partridges " 

 and chickadees — or black-capped tit- 

 mice — and also the ever-present crow. 

 On the 24th I observed snow-bunt- 

 ings for the first time near Halifax. 

 No doubt the recent great snowfall 

 and severe cold had driven them southward, as they 

 usually make their appearance in these latitudes after 

 the first severe snowstorm. Nothing can exceed in 

 interest the sight of a straggling party of "snow- 

 flakes " drifting across the snow-covered fields, or some- 

 times flying close over the road with their wavering 

 flight and feeble twittering notes. 



I observed some small parties of golden - crowned 

 kinglets in the woods again on January 30, and since 

 I had failed to detect any of these birds during the pre- 

 vious six or seven weeks, I had good reason to conclude 

 that they had moved further to the southward during 

 that period, to escape the severe weather. 



Up to February 16 small flocks of snow-buntings 

 were still about the fields in the vicinity of the town, 

 picking up a precarious livelihood from the dung-heaps 

 and refuse of all kinds, also paying great attention to 

 the seeds contained in the crowns of the few withered 

 plants which projected above the uniform stretch of 

 snow in the fields and along the ditches. 



