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Bird- Lore 



out the white effect. The birds were re- 

 markably quiet for a long time, as if they 

 were willing to show off their unusual 

 markings. To call it absence of markings 

 might be the better way to describe the 

 difference, as the streaks were so very 

 faint, the V above the tail so clear and 

 white, and even the caps were pale. 



Our April weather has been too wet 

 and windy to allow determining the exact 

 date of the departure of the Redpolls for 

 the north. The great numbers disappeared 

 gradually, after coming around our houses 

 in swarms on April 4 and 5. The last I 

 saw for perfect identification were in a 

 thicket near our avenue, on April 12. — 

 Bessie Scribner Davis. 



Redpolls in New Jersey 



On February 2, 1909, I observed in the 

 central part of Gloucester county, New 

 Jersey, perhaps one hundred (I think 

 there were more) Redpolls, searching, 

 with their characteristic enterprise, the 

 dead grass and weed heads. I encountered 

 them in two different localities, perhaps 

 four miles apart. I have never seen them 

 so far south as this before. — Chas. D. 

 LiPPiKCOTT, Swedesboro, N. J. 



Pine Siskins in Vermont 



We have been favored witli the presence 

 of large numbers of Pine Siskins this fall 

 and winter. In the fall they, at times, 

 seemed fearless, alighting on the trees and 

 on the ground near the house, and feeding 

 on the aphides that were very plenty last 

 year. Always they were in full flow of 

 conversation, and we had great oppor- 

 tunities to learn their notes and their 

 marks. Why do none of the bird books 

 (that I have seen) mention the peculiar 

 note that sounds like whizz? It is the first 

 thing that called my attention to the birds. 

 I heard it long before I knew its source, 

 and it seems a strong distinguishing point. 

 When the whole flock whizzes, who can 

 but notice the sound ?^ Sometimes, when 

 they alight, they have notes that sound 

 like the peeping of frogs in spring. Often 



there is the call like a Goldfinch, and as 

 they fly, a note like the English Sparrow's 

 call is given. 



All of our cone-bearing trees were full 

 of cones this past winter, especially hem- 

 locks, which were really brown with them; 

 and the yellow birches are loaded with 

 their large catkins. Bits of the cones and 

 catkins cover the ground beneath the 

 trees. Does this abundance account for 

 the presence of the Pine Siskins? — E. F. 

 Miller, Bethel, Vermont. 



The Woodcock's Song 



Dear Editor of Bird-Lore: 



Please why that exclamation point after 

 the note about two Woodcock singing, 

 on the editorial page of March-April 

 Bird-Lore?* 



To me, the Woodcock's song is charm- 

 ing, because of its fitness to the character 

 of the bird, and to the surroundings. 



When low-flying clouds, all tattered and 

 torn, go drifting along the sky, and 

 i^olus picks threnodies away up aloft 

 among the clashing branches of mighty 

 oaks, one who is braving the storm loves 

 to see the great Eagle launch from a cliff 

 and hurl himself against the onset of the 

 blast, screaming a defiance that must 

 arouse the admiration of his queen upon 

 the eyrie. 



When the fret of spring fever takes us 

 out to the warm brush-lot, in a spirit of 

 unrest and of disharmony, the Yellow- 

 Chested Chat promptly joins us in mood, — 

 turning somersaults, mocking at every- 

 thing, and singing a clown song that almost 

 anybody can see is meant for nothing 

 more than to make the visitor laugh. Is 

 it possible that his mate is enamored by 

 such jesting? "As the husband is, the 

 wife is," according to the fine old poetry 

 of a former day, and perhaps she is 

 watching from a witch-hazel bush and 

 giggling away at his antics. 



After a while, June gets to be surely 

 June, and the Bobolink, bursting open 



♦Our exclamation point referred not to the 

 character of the birds' song, but to the early date 

 at which they sang it.— En. 



