NOTES FROM THE PAST Excerpts form January 8, 1865 Daily Examiner

There is no department of nature which presents greater attractions to the student that that off bird life. The beauty of their forms, the wonderous grace of their movements, their marvellous powers of flight, which make the boundless fields of air their home, and the blue heavens their pathway from cline to cline, their sweet songs that all the wilderness their harmony, their intelligence in buildling their nests and rearing their young, and the wanderful migrations which they perform over seas and wide-extending continents, impelled by an instinctive desire for the preservation of their race - all invest the hosts of the feathered families with an attraction and a romance peculiarly their own.

....At our station in North River this season, we observed more than one hundred and twenty different species of birds and we may say that this number is small to what might be observed at a number of stations on different parts of the Island. The greater part of these are migrant birds which come here during the summer and leave on the approach of colder weather....

We have a splendid lot of Gulls and Terns around our shore, many more than are found in the harbours of the Atlantic coast. The great black-backed Gull, with wings five feet in extent, is quite common on the coast, and frequently seen in the harbour. The Burgemaster and Laughing Gulls of the South, may sometimes be seen in the summer. Herring Gulls and Kittiwakes are abundant, remaining winter and summer. Bonaparte Gulls are very abundant, drifting like snow around the blue bays in summer. This small gull is our most common river gull, and might be readily mistaken for a Tern. But its less buoyant flight and softer voice, at once distinguish it. Wilson's Tern is abundant, and the long-winged, harsh screeching Arctic Tern is common.

But what are Gulls and Terns more than innocent, white-winged, beauties of the deep, that add the charm of animated existence to “the secrets of the sea”? Much more, indeed, to us. Thier great numbers show the vast abundance of the finney tribes which stock our bays with the rich harvest of the sea.

Geese came here in numbers the past spring, March 25th. It was a fine spell of Southwest weather, and the Robins and Blackbirds also came from their wintering in the Eastern States. Song Sparrows and Blue Snowbirds came April lst. A few of both these species had been with us all winter. The Song Sparrow is choice about his winter quarters, and does not usually stay north of Massachusetts. Indeed, the ornithologists tell us that he never winters in the Maritime Provinces, and so it speaks much for Prince Edward Island that the clear, sweet melody of this admirable songster may be heard all winter round the sheltered retreats of our farmsteads.

The slender ditty of the Savannah S., the clear ringing notes of the White-throat S., the loud song of the Field 5., and the gay whistle of the Fox-coloured S. came with the first of May, when the wild flowers lingered in the land and saved their sweetness .... to come.

The sweet melody of the Hermit Thrush then lent its charm to the calm spring twilight ....

The warblers are slow travellers in their migration, occupying a month in coming from Massachusetts to the Island. The Swallows, which arrive about the same time, pass over the same ground in a few days. The Night Hawk passed through Lockport, N.Y. on May 17th, in its north ward journey, and on the 25th was in P.E. Island. As a rule, the early flocks travel slowly, but the late ones pass right on with few stoppages.

Numerous and varied as is our avifauna, there are yet a few species of more southern habit which regularly visit the neighbouring Provinces, but never

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