IOO 



Bird - Lore 



that the bird, together with two others 

 not so strongly marked, had been observed 

 for several days previous. 



The Cardinal, which is rare at Ames, was 

 observed only once, December 28, one 

 individual being seen. The largest number 

 of Cardinals ever reported for one trip at 

 Ames is only 5, which were seen April 20, 

 iqiq. Conditions for the Cardinal have 

 been improved here, and it is hoped that 

 in the future it will become the fairly 

 common bird that it now is in some other 

 parts of Iowa. — H. E. Ewing, Ames, 

 Iowa. 



Unusual December Birds at Branch- 

 port, New York 



Although December, 1919, was a 

 wintry month, with considerable zero 

 weather, several species of our summer 

 birds failed to take advantage of the op- 

 portunity to migrate with others of their 

 kin. 



Between December 16 and 23, I ob- 

 served a Great Blue Heron braving the 

 wintry winds out on the ice of Lake 

 Keuka, while, nearby, a Kingfisher seemed 

 to be admiring the Heron's stately, one- 

 legged pose. 



An active, noisy Robin is a visitor of 

 our locust trees, and a Mourning Dove is a 

 frequent visitor and feeder in a nearby 

 barnyard. 



December 23, about twenty Redwinged 

 Blackbirds and Cowbirds flew about town. 

 At the same time the weather was such 

 that Siskins and Crossbills were numerous, 

 and great numbers of Snow Buntings 

 have been here since December 20. 



Evening Grosbeaks were reported at 

 Penn Yan on January 1 by James Fla- 

 hive, therefore we may expect to have 

 these aristocratic visitors with us this 

 winter. — Clarence F. Stone, Branchport, 

 X. Y. 



The Golden-crowned Kinglet 



In the November-December (iqiq) 

 Bird-Lore, page 361, some interesting 

 data relative to the growing scarcity of 



Golden-crowned Kinglet has led me to 

 review my notes on this species for the 

 past few years. As a result, I find that 

 it has become a scarce bird, locally. It is 

 generally a common migrant and a few 

 usually winter. However, last fall it was 

 only seen on three dates, with not more 

 than half a dozen individuals. I have 

 taken several long tramps during the 

 winter, (1919-20), visiting its former winter 

 haunts, but have failed to find a single 

 Kinglet. 



It was abnormally abundant in the 

 spring of 191 7 and was very numerous the 

 succeeding fall and well up into December. 

 That winter (191 7-18) was the severest 

 Kentucky has known for many years. 

 But few Kinglets were seen, after De- 

 cember, during the winter. During April, 

 when they are usually so numerous, less 

 than a dozen individuals were seen. It 

 would seem that the severe winter of 191 7- 

 18 is in some measure responsible for the 

 recent decrease in numbers of this species. 

 — Ben. J. Blincoe, Bardstown, Ky. 



Prairie Chickens in Northern Indiana 



Early on the morning of January 19, 

 1920, I was on a Pennsylvania train east- 

 ward bound from Goodland, Ind. Just 

 west of the town of Walcott, a flock of 

 Prairie Chickens, frightened by the train, 

 rose near the railway track and flew away 

 over the snowy fields. As near as I could 

 count, there were ten birds in the flock. 

 A half hour later I saw a second flock east 

 of Monticello. I counted fifteen birds 

 sitting in a snow-covered grain-field. I 

 had long thought of the Prairie Chicken as 

 practically extinct in this part of the 

 country and was delighted to see so many 

 in one day — had hardly seen so many, 

 all told, for twenty years. 



I thought, when I saw the birds, that 

 they were migratory flocks, brought in 

 by the unusually abundant snowfall in 

 the Dakotas and in Minnesota, but am 

 told by our Indiana ornithologists that 

 they were probably resident birds. Bird 

 students here say the species does not 

 migrate. At first I thought them mistaken 



