NATURE IN ACADIE. 49 



Down by Melville Island I came across five or six 

 nearly completed nests of the American robin — none of 

 them, however, containing any eggs. One was placed 

 at the extremity of a branch high up in a pine, about 

 thirty feet from the ground, this being the greatest 

 altitude at which I ever saw the nest of this species. 

 Another was straddled on the thick horizontal bough of 

 a hemlock, at a height of not more than eight feet. A 

 third was cradled in the drooping branch of a hemlock, 

 and so low down that I could touch it with my hand ; 

 while one was even placed in the fork of a bare silver 

 birch. Both in situation and appearance the nests 

 closely resembled a neat example of the European mistle 

 thrush's nest. 



The robin, or migratory thrush, is the first to com- 

 mence breeding among the smaller species of birds found 

 in the province, and as the period when it commences 

 nest-building corresponds exactly with that of the Old 

 World blackbird and mistle thrush, it may be readily 

 imagined how much later the spring commences in Nova 

 Scotia, in spite of the fact that it is several degrees 

 farther to the southward than England. 



In the same woods I disturbed a downy woodpecker 

 from a decayed fir some eight or ten inches in diameter. 

 It allowed a very near approach before revealing itself, 

 when it darted on to another stem a couple of yards away 

 and clung motionless to the bark, peering down at me 

 for a moment or two, and then flew silently away. I 

 found that two excavations had been commenced in the 

 tree the bird was disturbed from, both of them being 

 about twelve or fifteen feet from the ground, and being 

 scarcely larger than those made by our lesser spotted 

 woodpecker, but they did not penetrate more than a 

 couple of inches. 



The downy woodpecker — sometimes inappropriately 

 called the lesser " sap-sucker " — is a very small species, 

 in fact, the smallest in North America, being not more 

 than six inches in total length. It is noticeable from 

 its, black upper plumage and white lower parts, con- 

 trasting with its scarlet hind-head and crest. This 



