40 NATURE IN ACADIE. 



Acadian owls. This owl, the smallest in Eastern North 

 America, is quite a common species in the province of 

 Nova Scotia, particularly at the present season. 



By the 28th the snow-buntings had all disappeared, 

 the weather being milder, and on this day I observed the 

 black snowbird again in the woods by the North- West 

 Arm. I also noticed a flock of shore larks — " horned" 

 larks in New-World phraseology — circling over the 

 fields ; they flew in a very compact troop, and appeared 

 to number quite one hundred. Crows, I noticed, were 

 already in pairs, although not nesting here until the 

 latter part of April. 



March 13 brought very little change in the weather, 

 the snow still lying ten or twelve inches deep in the 

 woods, while the only birds I took notice of during a 

 brief ramble were a few chickadees, one of which I dis- 

 turbed as it was busily engaged at a bunch of pine-cones 

 which had lodged in a bush. I observed, however, that 

 the squirrels had already commenced to prepare their 

 spring nests in the fir-trees. 



On the 26th, also, the weather was unaltered — 

 although not particularly cold — the snow still lying un- 

 diminished in the woods. 



