340 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



with a tuning-fork, pitch-pipe, or piano, you will find that the 

 majority of people are apt to he deceived, because the bird's 

 voice is so rich in overtones that it gives an erroneous impression 

 of pitch. This view may not be well founded, but I put it for- 

 ward for what it may be worth. Perhaps some of your readers 

 can throw further light on the subject. 



NOTES ON CANADIAN OENITHOLOGY. 

 By Charles A. Witchell. 



On arriving at Montreal, on May 19th, 1895, I was surprised 

 to find the development of summer foliage less forward than that 

 of Liverpool ten days earlier. The general temperature was also 

 much colder. Near the docks were a few small birds closely like 

 the Sand Martin, Cotile riparia, but their voices differed from those 

 of any Hirundines which I had heard. The House Sparrow was 

 introduced here some fifteen years ago, and now it is abundant in 

 all but the busiest streets. 



The city contains 300,000 people, and perhaps twice that num- 

 ber of Sparrows. Here, as in Britain, this bird builds a domed nest 

 in creepers against the houses, if a better site for nidification is 

 not available ; but I saw no nests on the high trees. It has not 

 the warm shelter of the ivy, which will not live in that climate. 

 The severity of the winter is indicated by the fact that, at the date 

 mentioned, there were in Montreal 3000 corpses awaiting burial. 

 During the cold months no interment can take place, the ground 

 is frozen so hard, and cremation has not yet become fashionable. 

 The Sparrows are said to have driven the American Kobin, Tardus 

 migratorius, which is as large as an English Thrush, and the Blue- 

 bird from the city ; and a friend told me that he had recently seen 

 a Sparrow drive a Eobin away from food. It is perhaps note- 

 worthy that the Sparrows of Montreal utter the same notes and 

 for the same occasions as those of Britain, and that in both 

 countries the males "mob" around a female in the same noisy 

 manner. 



The most pleasing incident of bird-life visible between the 

 eastern and western coasts of Canada was the soaring and swooping 

 of the Nightjar. The common species is much larger than that 



