PRELIMINARY LIST OF THE SUMMER BIRDS OF THE 
COBALT MINING REGION, NIPISSING 
DISTRICT, ONTARIO. 
BY FREDERICK C. HUBEL. 
The following annotated list of birds is based on observations 
made within a radius of ten miles of what is now known as the 
town of Cobalt, Nipissing District, Ontario, by Mr. J. Wilbur 
Kay and myself between July 15 and August 18, 1905. Cobalt, 
situated on Cobalt Lake, is about 100 miles from North Bay 
junction on the transcontinental line of the Canadian Pacific, and 
330 miles almost north of the City of Poronto. When we entered 
this region, Cobalt was merely a small mining camp consisting of 
about two dozen huts, a few stores and a station. It has since 
grown to be a mining town of considerable size, owing to the large 
deposits of silver for which this region is now famed. 
About three miles south of the town is the Montreal River. 
There are numerous lakes in this region. Lake Temiskaming, 
by far the largest, lies but a few miles to the east, and although 
this lake has been a well traversed route to the north by white 
men for the past two hundred years or more, very little ornitho¬ 
logical data has come to light from this region. 
This country is a rocky wilderness, much of the field being 
covered with drift deposits and the exposures of compact rock are 
frequently clothed with moss. Here and there hills with steep 
faces rise to a height of a hundred feet or more. Although lumber¬ 
ing operations have been conducted over almost all of this area, 
very few clearings exist, as the surface is unfit for agriculture. 
Here and there forest fires have left their ghastly trails behind. 
Among the principal forest growths are Norway, white and 
jack pine, tamarack, cedar, balsam, and other hardy timber. 
The second growth is usually birch and poplar, principally the 
former. The small shrubs are of various species. Although the 
shores are generally rocky and wooded to the water’s edge, con¬ 
siderable marsh land is to be found which affords suitable breeding 
grounds for water-fowl. The largest of these is at the head of 
Lake Temiskaming, which covers several hundred acres. 
While the present list is in no sense complete, I have preferred 
to exclude many species which in my mind were doubtful, especially 
where specimens could not be procured. 
1. Gavia imber. Loon. — Nearly every day one or more of these 
birds were observed flying over the lakes. They undoubtedly breed. 
