THE CANADIAN SPORTSMAN AND NATURALIST. 



223 



head, his long legs stretched out behind, ae 

 he wings liis way to some favorite finning 

 ground. The shore lark, Eremophilaalpestris, 

 Boie., and the long-ppur, Plectrophanes lap- 

 ponicus, L., come very early in spring anil 

 remain until late in winter, but it cannot be 

 said that they remain with is all winter, ami I 

 would here make the broad statement that all 

 our birds are more or less migratory; that 

 tbey all leave their breeding places and move 

 southward as winter sets in, and that the birds 

 found here in the winter breed north of us. 

 The neat and substantial nests of the summer 

 warbler, Dendrceca aestiva, B. D., are found 

 everywhere in willow scrub; the nests of the 

 superb little redstart, Setophaga ruticilla, L., 

 are also common. Last spring we shot a tine 

 specimen of the butcher bird, Collurio borealis, 

 Yieil., and laid it with some other birds on 

 the top of the shanty ; very soon we heard a 

 noise and on going out saw a butcher bird 

 tearing his dead relative to pieces. I found a 

 nest of this species in a dense spruce tree last 

 spring. The white-winged crossbill, Loxia 

 leucoptera, Gfmel. ; the pine grosbeak, Piiiicola 

 enucleator, L. and the red-poll linnet, JEgiotlms 

 Unarius, L., are found here summer and win- 

 ter; in winter, in small flocks, feeding on the 

 ends of trees and shrubs, the hipps of the wild 

 rose being the staple. A flock of about two 

 hundred and fifty snow buntings, Plectrophanes 

 nivalin, L., has been around the town for some 

 days and they have done some damage to bags 

 of grain laying about the station, pecking 

 holes in them and feeding on the contents. 

 The savanna sparrow, Passerculus savanna, 

 Bon., the bay-winged bunting, Foecetes grami- 

 neus, Gm.; the sharp-tailed finch, Ammodorus 

 caudacutus, Gm.; the song sparrow, Melospiza 

 melodia, Wils., and the snow bird, Junco 

 hy emails, L., all nest in the bluffs and on the 

 open prairie. HereTilso is the towhee bunting, 

 Pipilo erythrophthal mus , L., with his clerical 

 coat, white vest, bright red eyes and sweet 

 .little matin song, they nest on the ground in 

 tangled thickets or near brush heaps. That 

 queer family, the Icterida) is well represented 

 here ; of the sixteen species found in North 

 America, I have already seen nine, and all 

 very common. There is no uniformity in 

 their architectural abilities. The orioles build 

 in trees, the most complicated and strongest 

 nests, in fact are the best nest builders of all 

 our birds; the rusty grackle, meadow lark 

 and bobolink build on the ground a very poor 

 but well concealed nest, while the cow hud 



dors not build at all, declining even the duties 

 of housekeeping. They also differ very much 

 in plumage; the oriole, crow blackbird, ' 

 calm purpureas, hart.; yellow-headed black- 

 bird, //. xanthocephalus icterocephaltts, Bon., 

 and tin- meadow lark are very beautiful; the 

 cow bird, Molothrus ater, \'» dd., and the ru-tv 

 grackle, Scolecophagusj°errugineus, Gm., very 

 plain. Again the oriole, Icterus Baltimore, h., 

 meadow larlv, Sturnella magna, L,, and the 

 bobolink, Dolichonyx oryzivorus, L., are ail 

 more or less musical, while the rusty grackle, 

 red-winged blackbird, Agelaeus ////"> nic< "••>•, L., 

 and the cow bird make the moel discordant 

 skreekings. Again the bobolink and the 

 meadow lark have hard, sharp pointed, wood- 

 pecker like tails, while in the oriole the tail is 

 soft and" square at the end. Altogether the 

 Icterida; are a motly lot and well worth atten- 

 tion and study. The common crow, Oortnts 

 Americanus, L., and the raven, Corvus corax., 

 L. are common, so is the blue jay, Cyanwrus 

 cristatus, L., and the Canada jay, Perisoreus 

 < 'anadensis, L., is common in every bluff. The 

 king bird, Tyrannus OarolinensiSjIj., is here 

 in full force chasing and annoying hawks as 

 usual, and every summer night, thousands of 

 whippoorwills, Antrostomus vociferus, Wils. 

 contend with each other as to which can make 

 the loudest and most rippling complaint. The 

 night hawk, Chordeiles Virginianus, Gm., is 

 also very common and I found a great many 

 nests — or rather lots ot eggs — tor they make no 

 attempt at nest building but lay in exposed 

 places on the open prairie. The common 

 kingfisher, Ceryle alcyon, L., is common along 

 all our rivers and small streams, nesting as in 

 Ontario. Of woodpeckers we have the hairv, 

 Picus villosus, L., the downy. Picus pubescens, 

 L., the black hacked, Picoides arcticus, Sw., 

 and the golden winged, Colapetes a 11 rat us, L., 

 the three species first mentioned are found here 

 all winter; the last leaves early in tall; they 

 are very common; every dead stud is pierced 

 with half a dozen ot their nesting holes. The 

 meat horned owl, Bubo Virginianus, Gm., the 

 long eared owl, Otus vulgaris, L ., and the 

 snowy ovt\,Nyctale nivea, L, are all very com- 

 mon, nesting in small trees, wherever found. 

 The peregrine falcon, Falco communis, Gen., 

 the most fierce and daring of ail our hawks, is 

 very common, nesting in bluffs and is the 

 terror of the poultry yards. The sparrow 

 hawk, Falco sparverius, i; very common, nest- 

 ing in woodpeckers old holes. me broad 

 winged buzzard, Butca Pennslyvanicus, Wils.; 



