Vol XXI-j 



Trotter, Some Nova Scofia Birds. 



59 



more individuals would follow, hovering with dangling legs on 

 broad, outstretched wing, close at hand, or perched on some stake 

 or the top of a spruce tree, restless, uneasy, and vociferous until 

 we had gotten well away from the devoted spot. 



Certain birds were remarkable for their scarcity, though abun- 

 dant enough in other sections of the country. I saw but few 

 Chimney Swifts during my three visits ; this is undoubtedly due to 

 the fact that most of the chimneys are small and are more or less 

 contmually in use during the summer. The Kingbird, save in one 

 mstance, was not observed about Barrington until the latter part 

 of the summer when it appeared sparingly in old fields bordering 

 the salt marshes and shores. In the extensive apple orchards 

 about the Basin of Minas I found these birds nesting in 1897 _ 

 and they were fairly abundant. The majority of the Kingbird 

 population undoubtedly finds more congenial nesting sites in the 

 agricultural portions of the Province, and the birds appear in the ■ 

 wilder tracts of the southern part only after the breeding season 

 ihe same observations are true of the Bobolink. I found this 

 bird nesting abundantly in the lush grass meadows of the Habi- 

 tent that flows through an old Acadian dyke into the Basin of 

 Minas, but only saw one individual during my three summers- 

 stay at Barrington ; a male bird in changing plumage, which I 

 secured on July 30, 1903. 



The only flycatcher aside from the Kingbird that I found at 

 Barrington was the Alder Flycatcher {Empidonax traillii alnoruni) 

 Most of the individuals seen were low down in the dense growth 

 of alders along a sparsely traveled road. The solicitous actions 

 of several of these birds on August 8 betrayed the nearness of 

 young. They kept well out of sight, only occasionally revealing 

 themselves on the edge of the alders and all the while uttering a 

 succession of piping chirps. 



A small colony of Rusty Crackles frequented the inner edge of 

 a salt marsh and several individuals were seen on June 17 1002 

 m a fresh bog on Barritigton River. , ' 



I had read Bradford Torrey's account of his hunt after Ravens 

 in the country about Highlands, among the mountains of western 

 North Carolina. I spent two summers at Highlands, and like Mr 

 lorrey had no success in meeting with this interesting bird. But 



