94 



Bird - Lore 



birds away, though he did not care to 

 eat himself. 



Next in number to the Juncos are the 

 beautiful Varied Thrushes. The bright- 

 colored males are much wilder than the 

 females, seldom approaching when any- 

 one is in sight. Among their own kind 

 they are a very quarrelsome bird, fighting 

 and squabbling continually. One of the 

 pleasant features of the Varied Thrushes' 

 visit is that even in winter they give 

 voice freely to their unique, vibrant song, 

 which has a peculiar, most penetrating 

 effect on a clear frosty morriing. 



While the cold and snow drives Town- 

 send's Sparrows and the Varied Thrushes 

 from the mountains to settled sections 

 and villages, it seems to bring the Brew- 

 er's Blackbirds from the lowlands into the 

 hills, perhaps for the shelter which the firs 

 afford. A single female of this species 

 first visited my table late one winter and 

 was very tame. Later she returned with 

 a very shy male, and finally a flock of five 

 were visiting me, accompanied occasionally 

 be a female Northwestern Redwing. 



The Oregon Towhees seldom visit the 

 table itself, but are content to eat the 

 crumbs that fall to the ground, while the 

 Rusty Song Sparrows divide their atten- 

 tion about equally between the table and 

 the ground beneath. 



Suet, the standby for bird-feeding in the 

 East, is rather at a discount here. Apples 

 and rolled oats are the most favored food, 

 though a dry cookie, carefully nailed down, 

 is much relished. If the season is favorable 

 we may have several of these skits of snow 

 between December and March, during 

 which the bird visitors come and feed, 

 but two or three weeks, altogether, in a 

 winter is the extreme limit. — Leslie L. 

 Haskin, Lebanon, Ore. 



What Has Become of the Golden- 

 crowned Kinglet ? 



The article on 'The Scarcity of Golden- 

 crowned Kinglets,' by Francis II. Allen, in 

 the November-December, 1919, Bird- 

 Lore, caused me to inspect carefully my 

 bird-records for the past several years. 



I found that the Golden-crowned Kinglet 

 was one of our most common winter resi- 

 dents until the hard winter of 1917-18, 

 when, for the first time in my years of 

 observation, it failed to stay here; or else 

 perished because of the severe weather. 

 It was rarely seen in the spring migration of 

 19 1 8 and was still far from its old-time 

 numbers in the fall of that year. Probably 

 remembering the coldness of the previous 

 winter, it migrated farther south, although 

 last winter was exceptionally mild. The 

 earliest record for this year was March 26. 

 At only one time did it approach normal 

 numbers, April 7, the last date it was seen 

 in the spring. Though it seems to be 

 wintering here this season, it is very rare, 

 not over thirty individuals having been 

 seen since the beginning of the fall migra- 

 tion. It would be interesting to know how 

 general this scarcity has been, even in 

 migrations, in the past two years. 



The number of Mockingbirds and 

 Carolina Wrens, so noticeably lessened 

 by the winter of 191 7-18, is again normal. 

 The Carolina forms, as of old, one of the 

 small group of vigorous winter songsters, 

 and the Mockingbird kept up its med- 

 ley in unusual richness until the bitter 

 days of the December blizzards. — Gordon - 

 Wilson, Bowling Green, Ky. 



Scarcity of Golden-crowned Kinglets 



The article by Francis H. Allen, in the 

 December issue of Bird-Lore, on the scar- 

 city of the Golden-crowned Kinglets in 

 Massachusetts, was of interest to me from 

 the fact that the same condition prevails 

 here in northern Ohio, and dates from the 

 same period as Mr. Allen's observations 

 — the fall of 191 7. 



During the year of 191 7 I noted this 

 species on forty-two different days and 

 usually in large numbers. During 1918, 

 I noted them on but ten different days, and 

 only in small numbers or individual birds. 

 During igig I have seen them on only six 

 different dates and only two or three at a 

 time. 



These figures give a correct ratio of the 

 increased scarcity, I believe, for I have 



