Vol. XX I -| 

 1904 J 



Tu OTTER, Some Nova Scotia Birds. 



61 



Strangely suggestive of the whistle of the Greater Yellowlegs 

 {Totanus melanoleucus) . 



^ From time to time we would fall in with wandering flocks of 

 Crossbills, the dipping flight and twittering notes on the wing call- 

 ing to mind the Goldfinch. They appeared to be exceedingly 

 irregular m their movements, disappearing from a locality for days 

 at a time. In the summer of 190 1 I saw them first on July 7, and 

 after that more or less frequently during my stay of three months. 

 I have seen those birds feeding in the public road like English 

 Sparrows. The past summer (1903) I did not see or hear Cross- 

 bills until the 13th of August. After that they appeared irregu- 

 larly. Many of the birds were young and a few individuals of the 

 White-winged species were mixed in with the flocks. The birds 

 seemed stupid in their tameness. I fired three or four times into 

 a flock that had settled in a black spruce, the birds busy shelling 

 the cones, without causing any disturbance to the majority, which 

 <;ontinued to feed unconcernedly. These flocks are eminently 

 restless, sweeping about over the tree tops with their constantly 

 iuttered tweet-tweet. 



Another finch of exceedingly irregular distribution locally was 

 the Pine Siskin. I frequently heard its canary-like song during 

 the latter part of the summer of 1901 and saw the birds a number 

 of times. In 1902 I saw several individuals on the 18th of June, 

 but never afterwards. Last summer the bird was conspicuous by 

 Its absence in the neighborhood of Barrington, and was seen only 

 once, in the early part of September. 



The Purple Finch was fairly abundant and its rolling carol was 

 ■one of the charming songs of these woodlands. At Bedford 

 Basm, near Halifax, N. S., where I spent one summer, this bird 

 frequented the neighborhood of houses, like its western cousin. 

 I have seen two males almost within hand reach of my window 

 trying to outrival each other in singing. 



The Acadian Sharp-tailed Finch {Ammodramus caudacuttis suh- 

 virgatus) was an inhabitant of the tidal marshes about Barrington 

 The bird's notes are like the noise made by sucking in through 

 the teeth, a wet sound that savors of the oozy marsh. 



During the first two summers I had my mind set on finding Lin- 

 coln's Sparrow. It was not until last summer, however, that I 



