ORNITHOLOGY IN 1851. 
recall to the traveller, or resident fur trader, pictures of southern do- 
mestic abode. The cheerful and familiar Sylvia ( Sylvicola) cestiva 
is one of the earliest arrivals in spring, coming in company with the 
well known American Robin (T. migrator ms), and the Purple and 
Rusty Grackles. A little later, the varied Thrush makes its appear- 
ance from the shores of the Pacific. The White-bellied Swallow 
(H. bicolor), breeds at Fort Norman, in holes of rotten trees; and 
the Sialia arctica , a representative of the Blue Bird, so common in 
the United States, enlivens the banks of the Mackenzie; coming 
however, not from the Atlantic coasts, but from the opposite side of 
the Rocky Mountain range. On the Mackenzie there is an inter- 
mingling of the floras of both coasts, as well as of the migratory 
feathered tribes, the rocky mountain range not proving a barrier to 
either.” 
“ One of the birds which we traced up to its breeding places on 
Bear Lake River, but not to the sea coast, is the pretty little Bona- 
partean Gull ( Xema bonapartii). This species arrives very early in 
the season, before the ground is denuded of snow, and seeks its 
food in the first pools of water which form on the borders of Great 
Bear Lake, and wherein it finds multitudes of minute crustacean 
animals and larvae of insects. It flies in flocks, and builds its nests 
in a colony resembling a rookery, seven or eight on a tree ; the 
nests being formed of sticks laid flatly. Its voice and mode of flying 
are like those of a Tern ; and like that bird, it rushes fiercely at the 
head of any one who intrudes on its haunts, screaming loudly. It 
has, moreover, the strange practice, considering the form of its feet, 
of perching on posts and trees, and it may often be seen standing 
gracefully on the summit of a small spruce fir. 
“ The insectivorous habits of this bird, and its gentle familiar 
manners, contrast strongly with the predaceous pursuits and vora- 
ciousness of the Short-billed Gull ( Larus brachyrhynchus). If a 
goose is wounded by our sportsmen, these powerful gulls directly 
assailed it, and soon totally devoured it, with the exception of the 
larger bones.” 
The Harlequin Duck ( Glangula histrionica ) also frequents Bear 
Lake, but is comparatively rare in other districts, and is not easy 
of approach. It congregates in small flocks, which, alighting at the 
head of a rapid, suffer themselves to glide down with the stream, 
fishing in the eddies as they go. The Osprey and White-Headed 
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