-2- 
     
    
   
   
    
     SQUIRRELS AT BIRDFEEDERS. A reader says squirrels have learned to 
     
     jump from walls, roof, trees onto the birdfeeder and are robbing 
     
     the birds of their food. Has anyone a solution to this problem? 
     
    
   
   
    
     PROPOSAL TO SHIFT P.E.I. NATIONAL PARK CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT AREA. 
     
     At the February meeting of our society, it was proposed that the 
     
     count circle be shifted southwest to include most of Charlottetown, 
     
     and possibly Cornwall, Kingston, North Wiltshire, Hunter River and 
     
     South Rustico and to exclude the Tracadie Bay area. For the past 
     
     six years, this count area has extended up to five miles into the 
     
     Gulf of St. Lawrence, and except for a narrow area that could be 
     
     covered from shore with a telescope, this was simply waste space. 
     
     The National Audubon Society has responded to an inquiry and states 
     
     that there would be no objection to the proposed shift. We will 
     
     be glad to hear from birders who have been or who may be helping 
     
     count the area next December. 
     
    
   
   
    
     WHAT IS A SNOWBIRD? The dictionary says: "Junco". Under "Slate— 
     
     colored Junco" one bird book mentions "Junco or Snowbird". 
     
    
   
   
    
     Above Submissions by: 
     
     Margaret Mallett 
     
     53 Fitzroy Street 
     
     Charlottetown, P.E.I. 
     
    
   
   
    
     THE MAPLE LEAF FOREVER 
     
    
   
   
    
     In early spring of 1976, while banding birds on a small island in 
     
     the St. Lawrence River, I had occasion to cut some poles to support 
     
     a mist net. The net was set up at a cave entrance which was half— 
     
     way up a steep cliff, and when the netting was done, one of the 
     
     poles was inadvertently tossed into the cave. This young mountain 
     
     maple sapling, 2 m long and 3 cm thick, was not to be cast off so 
     
     lightly. Despite being sawed off squarely, top and bottom, life 
     
     within it was not ended. In a matter of weeks, its winter buds had 
     
     sprouted fresh twigs and leaves. However, it did not extend roots 
     
     into the gravel bed on which it rested. 
     
    
   
   
    
     How can a tree grow without roots or soil? The answer is simple: 
     
     any plant needs only air, water, light and minerals for growth, and 
     
     the difference between a lowly lichen or liverwort, and a highly 
     
     specialized flowering plant, is simply the systems evolved to meet 
     
     these needs. So this mountain maple, deprived of its roots, 
     
     survived by reverting to the tactics of a primitive lichen, sucking 
     
     its sustenance from the damp cave air. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Next spring when I return to that island, I wonder if my "immortal 
     
     maple" will still be sprouting green to welcome me? 
     
    
   
   
    
     David Cairns 
     
     Département de biologie 
     
     UniversitezLaval 
     
     Quebec, Quebec 
     
    
   
   
    
     OULTON'S ISLAND APPEAL 
     
    
   
   
    
     In mid November, the Natural Areas Advisory Committee (NAAC) 
     
    

    
     launched an appeal to the Land Use Commission in which it opposed 
     
    

    
     the decision of the Land Use Service Center to grant "approval in 
     
     principle" to a cottage subdivision development proposal on Oulton's 
     
     Island. The island is approximately 200 acres, and occurs between 
     
     the province's north west shore and a valuable chain of offshore 
     
     sanddunes (approximately 20 miles long). Oulton's Island has one 
     
    

    
     of the largest Great Blue Heronries on Prince Edward Island and 
     
    

    
     the nearby sandhills have been identified as being nationally sig— 
     
     nificant by the International Biological Program. These sandhills 
     
     have also been identified as one of two sites on Prince Edward Island 
     
     included in a preliminary study of "Natural Areas of Canadian Signi- 
     
     ficance" by the Parks System Planning Division of Park Canada (October 
     
     1976). In addition, Oulton's Island has been recommended as a