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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