86 TRANSACTIONS OP THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. III. 



to me, although I knew it to be a Grosbeak. It proved to be a male 

 Evening Grosbeak, and was shot in the asylum grounds. 



The birds remained with us several weeks, in fact I saw one early in 

 March, feeding on mountain ash berries. In the asylum grounds they 

 were to be found very constantly, in the tamarac and mountain ash 

 trees, and several times I saw them in the tamarac with the Pine Gros- 

 beaks, which were quite common in the winter of 1890. 



On the 13th or 14th January, 1890, Mr. Geo. Nicol of Cataraqui, shot 

 a male and female Grosbeak (Evening), and sent them to Mr. R. M. 

 Horsey, who wrote a letter on the subject to the British Whig, January 

 17th, and Mr. Horsey corroborates my observations in regard to the 

 time the birds remained with us, in the following note : " I have a speci- 

 men (male) given me by Sir Richard Cartwright's gardener, which he 

 procured about the end of January, and which he shot at the " Maples," 

 Sir Richard Cartwright's summer residence on the banks of the St. 

 Lawrence, a short distance from Kingston, where I understood from him 

 the birds remained until early in March, or to-.vards the middle of the- 

 month." 



In the asylum grounds the ash berries seem to have been the chief 

 attraction, but the birds were not nearly so numerous with us as at the 

 eastern part of the city, and along the banks of the St. Lawrence. The 

 reason for their presence there was that the woods are full of red cedars, 

 and Barriefield Common, on the eastern side of Kingston, is covered with 

 junipers. The birds subsisted on the berries of the red cedar and juniper. 



Mr. H. Stratford, taxidermist, tells me that the crops of the many 

 birds he mounted, were invariably filled with the red cedar and juniper 

 berries. 



There is no record of any of the birds having been kept in captivity 

 and 1 cannot find out how many specimens were procured, but Mr. 

 Stratford, the taxidermist, mounted several for different persons, and 

 Mr. Horsey had three. The birds were quite common, and little 

 difficulty would have been experienced in securing a large number. In 

 the asylum grounds I would not allow any of them to be destroyed,, 

 after the first had been shot. 



Mr. Stratford tells me that shortly after the arrival of the Grosbeaks 

 here, they were observed in Perth, (Lyn), and if you wish I can find out 

 the particulars regarding this, as Perth, (Lyn), is further east than 

 Kingston. My impression is that the migration took place from the 

 west, as the dates that the birds were observed in the western part of 

 Ontario, were certainly earlier than our dates. 



I find that I made a slight mistake in my notes on Grosbeaks: instead 



